Ok, I know you’re all suffering withdrawal symptoms after missing yesterdays blog!! There were a couple of reasons, it was a long day with not too much time to write and I was suffering from a cough/cold which seemed to have peaked around two in the morning. Although not feeling 100% yesterday, it did not spoil the days activities……. the elephants!
We drove about 90 minutes to an elephant sanctuary to spend a day playing with, feeding and washing the elephants. The sanctuary is privately owned by one of the people who used elephants as a “power house” particularly in the logging business. Logging was banned in Thailand in 1989, leaving many elephant owners to abandon their elephants back to the wild. Unfortunately these elephants had been domesticated, or born outside the jungle, and were not able to survive on their own. Many of the more caring owners set up sanctuaries to rescue these animals. This particular one, the Kanta Elephant Sanctuary has 14 elephants on a 20 acre site. Not only is the sanctuary there to help their own animals, any elephant in need of medical assistance can be brought there. Money is raised partially by tourist trips, and the sanctuary is also used by vet students who want to specialise in elephants.
The first thing we did was get dressed for the event as it was very likely we would get both muddy and wet…. We did!
Lyn dressed to go Elephant hunting
Below are a series of random photos, initially we were separated from the elephants by a sturdy bar fence to allow us humans to rid ourselves of any fear! After that we were free to roam with them, pet them, feed them and play with them. It was suggested that we stay clear of the rear end for a number of reasons. Elephants have poor eye sight, and any sudden movement at their rear could cause them to panic or swing their tail, which would result in injury to us. Also they eat 300Kg (660lbs) of food per day, this food has to go somewhere!!!
The females have very small tusks, this tusk has not been cut, just worn down by every day activity. The males have longer tusks, but are not so keen to come and play with us humans. We fed the elephants sugar cane which they would (usually) take gently from your hand with their trunks. The dexterity of the trunks are amazing, they could pick up and organise six or more pieces of sugar cane to place in their mouths.
After a mammoth feeding session, we went back to the rest area where we were given a lesson in elephant cooking (their food that is!)
We made sticky rice balls with protein, salt, tamarind and banana added, their favourite (and most nutritional meal). We then had a traditional Thai lunch prepared for us, then it was back to the elephants.
This time, instead of the elephant getting the food in her trunk, we held the rice ball above our head and said Bon Bon. The elephant would then raise her head and open her mouth. Time to risk hand and arm and place the ball in her mouth. They were (usually) very gentle, they have no front teeth which was reassuring, and even if you don’t want to hear it, their tongues were silky smooth.
We now took the elephants down to the river to drink some water, have a bathe and a bit of play time. Elephants drink over 100 litres (26US gallons) a day.
Late afternoon we headed back to the hotel where I crashed for a bit, then we braved going out to the local market to get a meal. A couple of Pad Thai’s and a couple of beers for $20.