I hope you all enjoyed our guest writer from last month. I was quite sick and stressed for about a week after we got back, and it was very kind of J to write such a lovely post in my stead.
I'm excited to share one of my favourite parts of our trip with you: meeting elephants! Some of my colleagues who had been to Thailand recommended an amazing elephant sanctuary called BMP Elephant Care Project in Chiang Mai, and from her description we decided we absolutely must go.
We had stopped at an elephant hospital a few days before, and learned about the injuries that elephants sustain as a result of elephant riding and logging. Apparently, riding elephants can fracture or dislocate their shoulders and is very bad for them. I had no idea! It used to be a very popular and highly lucrative tourist attraction in Thailand, and is still available in some places, but local and international organizations are alerting people to the dangers to the elephants, and many tourist companies, like ours (Intrepid) refuse to deal with companies that allow elephant riding.
In addition, elephants were historically used to drag trees down out of the mountains for logging enterprises. That work poses its own issues, but even more tragically, there are now land mines around Thailand's border to prevent crossing it for illegal logging, but people do it anyway, and it's the elephants who suffer, getting their legs blown to bits by stepping on the mines. It's hard to see in the picture, but this elephant at the hospital has a white bag over the stump of her left foreleg. She has a prosthetic that she can wear, but sometimes chooses not to, as she had apparently done that day. This hospital was founded by a local woman and developed the first prosthetic limbs for elephants. they are doing amazing work, but it was all so sad!
We were travelling with a wonderful group of people, and the majority of them also decided to go on a side excursion to BMP, and it was lovely to share the experience with them. One of our newfound friends in the group is particularly fond of elephants, and her excitement was contagious. Being animal lovers in general, and then having the poor elephants from the hospital in our minds, we were all eager to confirm that everything was ethical and that the elephants were treated kindly at BMP. We were trilled to meet happy, well-tended elephants who reminded me forcibly of our wonderful dog Holly who was overjoyed to do anything we asked if it meant she got a treat afterwards. We met four elephants, three of whom were 7 years old or younger. I've forgotten the youngest ones' names, but the 7-year-old was a beautiful girl named Tip, and she and I became good friends. The adult, named, Taeng Thai (which means melon) was also charming.
First, we made friends with the elephants by feeding some small, sweet bananas. Tip (who I'm feeding here) was so excited she tried to climb over the fence, which you'll notice is up to her shoulders! They were all very eager for the treats, and ate them so fast, peel and all!
Our guide taught us that if you held the banana way up high, the elephants would put up their trunks and open their mouths so you could pop it right in. It was so cool! That's Taeng Thai who the guide is feeding, and then the two youngest next to her.
Next, we each got a load of sugar cane and brought it to the elephants. We learned that elephants only sleep about 3 out of every 24 hours, and pretty much spend the rest of it eating. We also learned (and observed) that they shake out their food before eating it, to get all the insects out of it.
The guide's assistant carried a camera and then shared the photos with us, so we wouldn't have to worry about carrying anything ourselves (except water, as it was about 40C (104F) so we needed to work to stay hydrated). They were obviously used to silly tourists who want a picture of everything (a group to which I somewhat begrudgingly belong, but still manage to feel superior to as a result of having a blog as my excuse). Anyway, they took lovely pictures.
Everything about elephants is fascinating, from their beautiful dark eyes to the different textures of different areas of skin.
Tip seemed to be the most trained of the group (perhaps because she'd lived there her whole life), and was very good at giving hugs.
She followed each hug with a rather delightful kiss, including causing tickly suction. J's neck is extremely ticklish, but he gave it a try anyway, with satisfyingly hilarious results.
This is my favourite picture from our whole trip! How completely adorable is that? Tip is so photogenic!
After the elephants finished their sugar cane, they went down for a swim in the river, where they ate something that looked to me like water lilies. They also helped us to cool down. We could see their handlers (who live with them at the sanctuary and have strong, lifelong partnerships with them) giving them signals and talking to them, but didn't realize what they were saying until the sheets of water spurted out of their trunks!
Then came my favourite part. We followed the elephants into a squelchy, muddy pond (that reminded me of my Uncle David and Aunt Susan's mud pond, the location of some pretty fantastic childhood memories). It was such a relief to wade into the cold water after ages in the sun, and it was clear that the elephants enjoyed it too. We gave them a mud bath, scrubbing and spreading the cool mud all over their amazing skin.
You'll notice that most of the rest of the group got in the water up to around the knee area - not me! I'm the little one behind the lounging elephant. In their defense, I should report that there was definitely elephant poop floating in the water, in addition to whatever delightfulness lurked in the mud, but even J the germ-a-phobe knows that herbivores' poop is very nonthreatening germ-wise, and plus, we were swimming with elephants! I wasn't going to go half-way on that! Also, it probably helps that I grew up swimming in mud ponds. Thanks, David and Susan.
Then we went into a clean(ish) pool and rinsed all the mud off. I definitely managed to get as muddy as the elephants, which I always consider a win when it comes to mud ponds.
I will now share some other elephant-related photos from our trip, starting with this rather clever towel elephant in our first hotel. Elephants are very important in Thailand, and so they are represented in a lot of art, temples, and other cultural landmarks. (And, apparently, hotel towels.)
I will write a post about our day in Sukhothai Historical Park, but I decided that this elephant pagoda belongs in this post. That's J on his bike, riding by.
It's hard to see the beautiful detail in that first picture, so here is a close-up. I love how they are stepping right out of the bricks!
This white elephant is at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple. White elephants are very rare and sacred. Traditionally, when a white elephant was born, it would be considered the property of the king, and transported to the palace. The town where it was born would receive honour and good luck.
At the same temple, I found this image of Buddha on an elephant. I feel like Buddha could probably manage to make sure not to hurt the elephant while riding him.
We also saw this incredible carving at that temple, which is in Chiang Mai and will get its own post later.
This is a close-up of one tiny part of it, in which sacred elephant are carrying sacred relics up to this very temple (if I'm remembering right).
So there you have it. Elephants are amazing, and Thailand values them very highly and is putting great effort into showing their respect for them. I can't describe how fortunate I feel to have met those incredible four elephants at BMP, and to have shared a morning with them, J, and our wonderful new friends in our group.
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