The Elephant Nature Park

November 13^th, 2024

We had a morning to kill before heading to the Elephant Nature Park so we visited the nearest temple to our accommodations, Wat Phra Singh, which was not even a five minute walk from our accommodations.  I have to admit that I was feeling a bit “templed out” already but hey, let’s check out one more.

This was the breakfast buffet at Wannamas Hotel...it was actually not that bad, I'm just pulling a face for some reason.

A few doors from our house was this weird hotel.  There's C-3P0 on the right balcony, an astronaut on the front bench with R2-D2 beside him behind a window.

I'm trying to match the astronaut's pose.

Not surprisingly, there were a number of golden statues of Buddha, some fancy buildings, bells and many colorful lanterns.  We wandered around for 20-30 minutes and then headed back to get ready for the afternoon.

In the Wat Phra Singh main building.

It certainly was colourful.

As we walked into this builidng, I thought that there were 5 monks sitting there...

But they turned out to be wax figures...really well made ones though.  Madame Tussaud would be proud.

Who doesn't like a half golden elephant sticking out of a golden temple?!?

A beautiful bunch of bells.

Not sure who this dude is...Naomi took the pic.

Many Thai tourists wear fancy clothes for photographs.  When I was in Bangkok, there would be stores where you could rent dresses and suits.  These ladies probably brought their own.

We probably shouldn't have our arms around each other...not temple-like behaviour.

A photo shoot in action...

The guy would try and throw her shawl and then duck out of the way...not sure if they ever go "the" shot.

A big belly Buddha.

Naomi is writing something on a "wishing bell".

It says "Israel".  Her wish is to free the hostages.

And now she is hanging up her bell.

A tourist van picked us up for the hour plus drive to the Elephant Nature Park.  The guide introduced himself as Tee, gave us a brief overview of the itinerary and passed around a sign-up sheet.

 

The nature park was setup to take care of elephants who have been traumatized in the past.  Utilizing elephants in teak logging has been banned by the Thai government in1989, but some of those elephants ended up in circuses, for tourists to ride or for begging in cities.  Other elephants have been maimed for their ivory tusks.  A woman named Lek Chailert opened the park in order to start a safe haven for these poor pachyderms to rehabilitate them and provide them with a happier life.  The idea of ecotourism, where tourists would come to visit the elephants, would help the park to survive.  There’s no riding of elephants here (which actually causes their rounded back to go flat over time).  Nor is there bathing of the animals, as this is not a natural activity for them either.  Sadly, not knowing better at the time, I rode an elephant in Nepal in 2007, and also washed elephants in India around 2011.

 

Just a month and a half ago, at the start of October, this region had some extreme flooding and the park itself was hit hard.  A dam burst and sent water gushing down the river, flooding the park and sadly a couple of female elephants were killed.  One was a young, 15-year-old elephant and the other was an older, blind elephant, who went to try and help the other one was lost as well.  Tee mentioned that some of the elephants are scared of going close to the river as they have been traumatized.  Still now, they are working on cleaning up the park, which we could not even visit.

Hard to see in this pic, but right in the middle is a dumptruck.  The piles of dirt and mud dwarf the trucks and heavy duty equipment trying to clean up the nature park.

Instead, the current program, to help continue to generate revenue for supporting the elephants, is to meet 6 elephants up on the hillside, at a small camp, with the chance to feed and interact with them for 3-4 hours.

These two elephants have had a hard life.  The one on the ride is swinging side to side, which is a way to manage stress from either being held in captivity, boredom or fear.

Hello!

Tee giving us an introduction to the elephants.

Tee inquired with the group to see who has spent time with elephants before.  Naomi and I were in the minority, so it was a new experience for most of the tourists.  He mentioned that an elephant can sense your confidence.  If you are afraid of meeting this massive animal, it will likely not think much of you, and not want to interact with you.  If you show confidence, it will befriend you much quicker.  “An elephant is a mirror of your state of mind and personality” he said later.

There were four female elephants, including the matriarch of the group who was over 70 years old, patiently waiting for us behind a small, wooden railing.  The were not tied up and free to roam around, but this was essentially their “dining room table”.  Big baskets filled with slices of watermelon and squash were nearby for us to feed to them.  There was a special basket of watermelons with the rinds peeled off specifically for the grandma, as her teeth aren’t what they used to be.

Feeding time.

Naomi is in heaven.

Tourists took turns grabbing some fruit and presenting it to one of the four pachyderms, who would grab it with their trunk and place it into their mouth.  Trunks are incredible appendages.  So flexible, limber and multi-functional: breathing, picking up things, blowing and as we found out, even pointing!  If no one was giving an elephant some fruit while there was still some in one of the baskets, she pointed her trunk over to the food, making her desire known.

Once the watermelon and squash were all gone, Tee pulled out some big plastic bags filled with sunflower seeds.  This was dessert for them…and interesting for us.  The elephant would present the end of its trunk to you, you’d pour a handful of sunflower seeds into their nostrils and then the elephant would curl up their trunk and blow the seeds into their mouth, which sounded awesome.

Would you like some sunflower seeds?

Hoovering up sunflower seeds:

After feeding them, we were able to take some pictures beside them, as we had now gained their trust.

Happy people and pachyderms.

I'm trying to recreate a picture from many years ago in India.  Naomi and I visited a park in Thekkady but the only elephant we saw was a fake one.  I couldn't quite recall the pose I did...and maybe it was good as I was kissing the fake elephants butt.

This was the original photo:

We walked across the small camp area to the first two elephants we had seen, who are a bit more broken spirit-wise (one of them was the one who rocked back and forth), and fed them.  I guess the guides and handlers want to make sure that the tourists are acting properly around the pachyderms.

Love the ear in this photo.

This was how Tee, the guide, was taking the previous photo.  It looked like the 

As this photo was being taken, the two elephants almost sandwiched us between them, although they knew we were here and would not have caused us harm.

Look at the love between these two.  It's obvious that Tee admires and respects these animals, and it seems to be mutual.

The guy in the tree is a mahout.  They are trainers who stay with the elephant full time.  Ideally they are partnered with an elephant from early on in the elephant's life (should it not be a wild elephant).

The elephants are free to roam around.

This lady went for a mud bath.

The elephant has presented her foot to Tee as she may have something stuck between her toes.  So amazing the gentleness of these large animals.

Nice butt!

Finally, it was time for a meal for the humans.  Naomi and I sat down with a few other tourists, a Danish couple, a young British couple and a young American woman.  The conversation mainly centered on the elephants but we also talked about each other’s trips.

After the elephants, Naomi insisted that we go out for a Thai foot massage...this would be a first for me.

Here we go...

It was an amazing afternoon with these majestic animals…and both Naomi and I agreed that it was the best elephant experience we had had with elephants, as it was the most natural interaction.  Keep up the good work Elephant Nature Park!