The Elephant Rescue

The Elephant Rescue

Nell

After hearing various tidbits about a supposed elephant rescue outside Chaing Mai, we sniffed out the Elephant Nature Park.  For those of you familiar with Blue Star (the draft horse rescue Justin and I used to work on), you too would have been stuck with the eerie similarities between the plight of the work horse and the work elephant, and the two organizations commitment to helping them.  

Promptly at 8 am we were picked up at our hotel by a van filled with other tourists from around the city-all destined for the elephants.  An hour and a half and a short documentary later, we arrived: the Canadian woman, traveling alone, the British couple, clearly a tad out of their element, the long distance relationship, mom's new friend Debbie and her husband whose name has been lost, and our tiny thai guide whose name was unpronounceable.  

When we pulled in, it looked more like we'd arrived on the safari.  Elephants wandering about in the distance, water buffalo picking at the dry grass, a thatched building filled mostly with fruit, a watering hole that separated the grassland from the mountains beyond.  Our itinerary for the day began with morning feeding.  Us tourists have a little "sky walk" at which the elephants line up to eat, piece by piece, large quantities of fruit from our hands.  You wouldn't believe how dexterous their trunks are, picking up a single banana and carefully placing it into their doughy mouths.  It's impossible not to love them.  Their saggy, tough skin, the way they seem to paddle along on their loaf like feet, the joy they take in a good scratch.  After morning feeding with headed down as a group to ground level to meet the elephants and have a wander.  One elephant that won everyone's heart had been tied up and forced to accept the advances of a bull elephant she wasn't interested in--resulting in a broken hip and quite the gait post-healing.  Her best friend has cataracts and they never leave each others side.  

After a truly outstanding buffet lunch, it was time to head to the river to throw buckets of water at the elephants.  While hokey on the whole, all our silly little tasks were really fun.  Have YOU ever bathed an elephant? One gal loves to lay down in the deepest part of the river, resting her head on the bottom and using the trunk as a snorkel. Clever.

The trip to the park was a welcome retreat from city.  With the fresh air, beautiful landscape and endearing (let alone exotic) residents, it really was a treat.