The elephant camp is a sanctuary for elephants. They take in abused elephants, killer elephants, or ones that no one can afford to keep. There are 90 elephants ranging in ages 4 months to 81 years old. The idea behind the camp is to save the elephants from extinction. They were used for work mostly logging, which is pretty non-existent now. They cost a lot to feed and care for so the Mahouts (the original mahouts for centuries were given their elephants at birth - they were passed down from father to son and lived with the families). The elephants, which have the same life span as humans, were trained to do different things to make an income but it became impossible for most of them. Some of the Mahouts live at the camp with their families and help take care of all the elephants.
There are very few wild elephants left and the idea is to domesticate the rest so they can survive. At the camp all the elephants with the exception of the babies earn their living. The bulls are used for mating and they go into town and offer rides to tourists, they also do re-enactments of the ancient fighting with the elephants as their steeds. They also have done some movies. The mother elephants are spoiled and pretty much laze around and feed the babies. Some elephants go in parades, some of them paint on canvases or dung paper. The retired elephants are the ones, which we take care of. The volunteers go for a set amount of time and are given an individual elephant to totally take care of, financially as well as physically
Our experience at the camp
A Korean woman from NY City gave us our orientation. We were each given a handbook and introduced to our elephants. Our elephant-soon to be Bonnie’s elephant-was a 65-year-old girl named Pissimi. The first order of business was a ride- bareback, with no saddle or seat-around the sanctuary. Bonnie was the first of the group to mount up and lead the way. Each of the volunteers sat just behind the head of the elephant with knees pressed up against the elephant’s ears. We used the ears for steering. A Mahout was perched behind each person on the elephant's back just in case of an unexpected situation.
I walked and ran along side snapping pictures, mostly of Bonnie. This experience needs to be recorded. Bonnie was the first of the entourage to head down the ramp and into the river. The expression on her face was one that just not be described. Thankfully this experience has been recorded.
Once the ride was over Bonnie insisted that I needed to get my own elephant-apparently she is not too good at sharing. I took the plunge-figuratively speaking, at least at this point and got my own elephant, an old girl named Jon Kaw.
We spent some time socializing with and feeding our elephants.
The babies-all of whom were roaming freely about the sanctuary-were absolutely the high light of the experience. They were playful, full of mischief and at times total brats. They were just too adorable for words. One of them grabbed our water bottle from the table with his trunk and stepped on it. Another grabbed a plastic bucket by the handle with his trunk and was flinging it about for a few minutes before stomping on it and bending it all out of shape. These were just 2 of many ongoing shenanigans.
After a while we all went over the Kraal (a large pasture) to take the elephants out for their second and final walk of the day. This time I would be riding my own elephant. Although I had been impressed with Bonnie's courage, I was amazed at how daunting the initial experience-being up so high with nothing to hold onto but the ears on such a mammoth beast.
Hairy Experience
After we got out of the river and resumed our trek back to the Kraal things got very hairy, A baby elephant wandered away from the group she was with and consequently away from her mother in the process. She began running around under the legs of our group of elephants, visibly distraught and she began trumpeting. This behaviour sparked a chain reaction among the elephants we were riding and several of them (including Bonnies) began trumpeting and milling about anxiously. One elephant in particular began extremely distraught and got turned around backwards and seemed to be on the verge of sparking a stampede. The Mahouts were visibly anxious and they struggled to prevent the situation from getting completely out of hand. This continued for several minutes, but I think we all felt as though it was longer than that. The baby was ultimately returned to its mother and order was finally restored. After the experience ended and we all had our feet planted firmly on the ground we all came to terms with what had just transpired. We all agreed that it was an extremely unnerving experience but it would not adversely affect our other amazing experiences, past or future, at the elephant stay.
Typical day
We start the day in the Kraal at 7am, where the senior lady elephants, the ones the volunteers are matched with are kept. First we spend one hour raking elephant dung and leftover elephant food into piles where we load it into a truck. They use the dung for fertilizer to grow their own food for the elephants.
We break for breakfast, which we make ourselves. We go down to the river to watch the babies and moms swimming. So Cute!!!! We go back to feed our elephants, after that we ride them down to the river. It takes about one hour by the time we swim with them. We go for our lunch, which is prepared for us. (Thai Food) Then we feed our elephants. One of the elephants is led into a make shift car wash-like station. The 5 of us volunteers scrub her with hand brushes. This takes about one hour. The elephant loves this.
We then take a break for about one hour and watch the mom's and younger elephants painting pictures on dung paper as well as regular paper, which they sell to the tourists. They cost between $15 and $30 Canadian. They are also sent to zoos in the western world where they sell for $300 to $1000 US. Some of the paintings are amazing, but they are mostly abstract which is not our cup of tea. They also paint canvas purse like bags, but the painting is far too good for such crappy bags. Back to being entertained by the babies before resuming work. Our next responsibility is to prepare a mixture of elephant food. It is a mixture of elephant grass, which we put through a grinder, then throw into a cement mixer, and then add a bucket full of molasses to the mix. (Terry managed to spill about 1/4 of the bucket of molasses onto the ground as he was throwing it in making one hell of a mess) We once again feed the elephants, they are non-stop eating machines.
We then rode them down to the river for the 2nd time of the day. The ride was uneventful compared with the ride we took earlier. However, once we got down to the river, Bonnie and some others noticed a 6 foot long alligator floating in the water about 60 feet away. She is frantically trying to explain to the Mahout that she doesn't want to go in but with the language barrier he just laughed it off and in we all went. The Mahouts were clearly unfazed so we took our cues from them and started to relax while definitely keeping our elephants as far away as possible from the alligator. When we got back to the camp the women who runs the program told us that it was a Monitor Lizard and even better that is was DEAD. (I am sure they had a great laugh at our expense). Back to the Kraal, feed our elephants once again and put them to bed for the night.
We have clean, AC basic accommodation with an outside shower and toilet, which is enclosed somewhat. A shower never felt so good, we never stank so bad. Had some well deserved drinks after, warm beer with ice cubes for me and a screwdriver with orange Fanta for Bonnie. They tasted great. Spent the evening visiting with the managers and the other volunteers. So interesting to hear more history about each elephant and how they were rescued etc. Went to bed early and so cool laying there listening to the elephants.
Our last day
Did the usual morning routine. There were a lot of tourists today (funny how fast we feel part of this camp and don't consider ourselves as tourists anymore). Scooping the poop has a way of making you feel you belong, who would have thunk?? There was someone making a documentary film. We could all be famous as he took a lot of footage of us riding the elephants.
Later on Terry walked his elephant to the river on his own, which is quite a distance and quite a feat. Once he got her into the river the rest of us volunteers helped him to scrub her down. It is a huge job.
One of the funniest things I have ever seen was watching a little Pekingese dog chasing the babies. The babies are no different than having 12 puppies playing except they are so darn big and so smart. If we turn our back they butt us and send us flying, they want to wrestle and grab you with their trunk, unbelievable, we will miss them sooooo much.
Our last ride was longer than usual, we stopped on the way and let the elephants eat fresh grass, which is no easy feat as they flail their head back and forth when they are ripping the grass up by the roots with their trunks and you have to dig in with your legs so you don't go flying. Packed up and said our final goodbyes. Feel like we make friends with the others at the camp in such a short time. Each of us spent time alone saying goodbye to our elephants. It really felt emotional, more so for the other volunteers because we know we are coming back next year where we will be given the same elephant. There is no doubt that the elephants quickly recognize who is taking care of them, which is amazing.
