Into the wild

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We signed up for an elephant ride and got far more of an adventure than we'd imagined. The ride was with an elephant camp who rescue elephants from a life of logging timber, train mahouts (elephant keepers) and look after the health and welfare of the elephants. We imagined the camp to be an enclosure near town but it turned out to be quite a journey into the wild.
An ancient Land Rover Defender came to pick us up from our hotel and we climbed into the tray at the back. We drove for an hour on the road out of town, passed little villages, rice paddies and beautiful mountain scenery. The greenery here is so vibrant it's almost irradescent. From the road we turned on to a bumpy dirt track full of mud holes, heading off into the mountains. We passed lots of people carrying huge baskets of pineapples on their backs, white buffalo herds, and small children who waved to us as we went by.
The camp is situated on the edge of a river in the middle of the jungle. While we waited to cross the river we saw some local women and three small children. Dan and I had bought some books from a local publisher 'Big Brother Mouse' and we gave them to the children and they seemed thrilled - their faces lit up with delight when they looked at the pictures. Literacy rates are low here and the small girl I gave a book to opened it back-to-front and read it upside-down, endearing but sad. Our elephant guide told us that the nearest village, where the children live, was a two-hour walk away so we felt like the books went to worthy recipients. If you didn't read my blog yesterday, 'Big Brother Mouse' is a small children's publishing house trying to improve literacy in Laos and appreciation of the world through books. They ask travellers to buy picture books and give to village children who may not have access to books or educational resources.
We crossed the river by rickety old longtail boat and then trudged through ankle-deep mud. It was incredibly slippery and our group of four had to remove our flip flops to walk, this meant we were squelching in the mud and getting our feet stuck.
The elephant camp consisted of one bamboo longhouse where the mahouts live, and one raised platform hut where we climbed aboard the elephants. There were seven elephants in the camp, ranging from age 38 to 50 years, apparently they retire at age 60. Dan and I sat in a howdah (wooden seat on elephant's back) and rode through the jungle on an elephant called 'Sun'. It was jungle in the true sense, and other than the small path made for the elephants it was dense and impenetrable. There was a huge array of trees and vegetation, none of which I could identify, and beautiful coloured butterflies everywhere. The only sound was the thump of the elephant's feet as she stomped through the jungle. Much of the route was muddy and we could hear massive squelching as she trod.
After the ride we fed bananas to our elephant to say thank you. Her ears flapped constantly, which apparently means she was happy. They're beautiful creatures but it is slightly unnerving when surrounded by so many beasts that could trample you. We must be grasshoppers in their sight.
From the camp we trekked back down to the river. I was carefully walking across the muddy bank but managed to slide and fall flat on my bottom as I stepped into the boat! Luckily I had a sarong in my bag so could change out of my filthy trousers. Back across the river, we ate lunch in a bamboo house on the hillside, and then boarded the most precarious looking boat we've ever seen. It resembled a dug-out canoe and when full of people (seated eight) it had two inches above the water and rocked at any movement. It didn't reassure us that there was already water on the floor when we climbed in.
Our boat made it to its destination - a beautiful waterfall cascading down into the river. The waterfall is in tiers through the jungle with trees growing out of the pools, with many pools where you can swim. After being in the steamy jungle and feeling hot and muddy, we took the chance to have a swim. It was icy cool but very refreshing.

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Comments

[claire]

elephants
what an advenutre! what does riding an elephant feel like? Anything like a camel?