17th October - Elephant Bootcamp (Can Shelly Drive an Elephant Better Than a Car)

---

Contrary to vicious rumours started by a friend I am actually a good driver, (side note: ironically said friend has lost all points and is on a probationary license for 12 months so go figure!)

But tearing up and down the F3 between Sydney and the Central Coast every day is one thing - how would I go taking an elephant for a ride, getting him down to the river, bathed, fed and sent off to bed in the jungle.  We were about to find out. We were off to the Elephant Village for the day to learn to be a Mahout (elephant keeper or elephant driver)

First on the agenda for the day was an overview of "Elephant Village" and it's purpose.
  
"Elephant Village", located 15 Km outside of Luang Prabang is a privately owned sanctuary operated by specialists and volunteers who focus on protection and rehabilitation of elephants in Laos.

Laos was known as the Land of a Million Elephants (Lane Xang) but the elephant in Laos is now a profoundly endangered species. Some 1600 remain, of which an estimated 560 work in the forest industry harvesting timber. 

But harvesting of timber in Laos is diminishing and it's just a matter of time before this becomes obsolete. This translates into hundreds of jobless elephants.  Keeping an elephant is very costly and labor-intensive, above all because elephants need tremendous amounts of food.

There have been a few efforts towards releasing elephants into the wild in Thailand, though with little success. Domesticated elephants are no longer adaptable to life in the jungle. Thus, releasing them doesn't appear to be a viable solution

These former logging elephants face a bleak future because they find themselves on the margin of urban environments with no chance of finding adequate food or water and no access to veterinary care. Many of the elephants end up being abandoned to a slow starvation.

The aim of the village is not only to rescue working elephants from the harsh, abusive environments in which they must make their livings but also give them a brighter future by providing rides or mahout training courses to tourists. This is relatively easy work for elephants, and allows them to earn their own living.

In addition, "Elephant Village" provides the opportunity for tourists to get to know these very special animals, observe them and spend some time with them, and allows the elephants to roam freely in the jungle, group together in herds, mate and start new families...

The project employs a full-time veterinarian ensuring that the elephants receive ongoing, high-quality medical attention.

Elephant Village also supports the local community and increases people's well-being alongside working towards the survival and safety of the elephants. The Project employs inhabitants of Xieng Lom as Elephant Lodge staff, maintenance workers, cooks and guides; a few also train to become mahouts.

Once we had learnt a bit about the sanctuary, it was time to meet the elephants and take a ride around the jungle.  Scott and I hopped aboard Mae San.  Like all elephants in the camp, Mae San worked in the logging industry throughout her young adulthood. Pictures taken immediately after her arrival showed the ways in which she was maltreated. Sensitive parts of her underweight frame showed furuncles and abscesses, caused by stabs from a knife. Eczema on the spots where the logging harness would have sat indicated that she was used to pull logs much too heavy for her, and that she had to work without periods of rest. The vet at the camp also suspected that she was given drugs such as Amphetamine to enable her to work even harder.

Our one hour elephant ride took us through the jungle surrounding the sanctuary and at times going down the steep muddy trail was scary as we found ourselves looking face down at the ground....from quite high up.  We eventually made our way down to the river where our Mahout asked if Scott would like to drive the Mae San.  I was not particularly keen on this idea but the Mahout jumped off and Scott slid out of the chair and on to the elephants neck as we waded down stream.  After plenty of photo opportunities our Mahout calmly informed us it was time for Scott and I to switch places! 

It is a strange sensation sitting on the elephants neck. Mae San's skin was tough and leathery, protruding hairs were spiky. Her ears would flap with an inordinate amount of strength, often pinning my feet behind them.  As she walked I was subjected to her lumbering motion, gripping tight with my knees, it was a long way down if I fell off.  We had been on elephant rides in Asia before, but always in seats, saddled to their backs.  Riding bareback is an entirely different experience and one recommend.

Following our ride, it was time to get down to the real business of Mahout training.  As were in Laos, these particular elephants understood Laos commands so it was a quick lesson of the most important words : Go = Pie; Left = Si; Right = Kwa; Bend knee = Song and most importantly Stop = Hoa.

We all had a go mounting, walking, steering, stopping and dismounting our elephant.  Mounting involves having the elephant bend their knee, placing your right foot on their knee and, grabbing their ear close to the head you swing your left leg over.  Sound easy right?

Elephants eat over 200 kg per day and when they decide their hungry nothing is going to stop them, not even the tentative commands of a Mahout in training.  After Scott had ungracefully scrambled on to his elephant, the animal decided to run off into the jungle after leaves and had to be bribed out again by the other mahouts waving food at her.

Dismounting is even better than mounting, this has to be done quickly, however you can't just jump down.  If the elephant is standing you slide down her leg.  This is when you realize just how high up you are!  If they bend down you literally have seconds to get off otherwise, like me, you find yourself mid dismount when she decides to stand up again and you are holding on for dear life!   
       
The highlight of our day, without a doubt, was the opportunity to bathe our elephants in the river.  With the seats removed and each of us not quite securely mounted on the neck of an elephant, we took off for the river again, Mae San, with me on top, out of the starting blocks first (hey, the light was green!)

As we made the sharp down hill turn on to the river bank I could hear a huge commotion behind me, desperate shouts of "Hoa" repeatedly ringing out in Australian, Irish and English accents.  I was headed straight down the hill and hanging on for all I was worth so as not to go straight over Mae San's head, so could only imagine the worst.  Later I learned they had a 5 elephant pile-up at the top of the hill, each elephant head-butting the rear of the one before it as they all tried to get down together! Eventually we all made it more or less in one piece into the river and it was bath time.  The mahouts jumped off the back of the elephants and handed us scrubbing brushes and we gave the elephants a good rub down, which they seemed to enjoy.  Some of the mahouts clearly had a sense of humor, Jackie's regularly shouting a command causing her elephant to immediately immerse herself totally in the river, taking a startled Jackie with her.  Scott had placed himself, unfortunately, downstream of most of the other elephants, and found himself the recipient of several not so little bundles, that continually floated down the river, the mahouts thought this was hilarious.  At the insistence of my mahout I even managed to stand up on Mae San's back, which he assured me did not hurt her.

All too soon, bath time was over and we had to take the elephants back, where we thanked them in Lao (kop chai lai lai), had one last photo, and then they were led off into the jungle, where they spend the night, by the real mahouts.

Undoubtably our day as a Mahout would be one of the highlights of our trip.
    

---

Photos

After Training
Scott, Paul. Shelly, Don, Richard, Jackie, Dave

Real Mahouts and Mahouts in Training
Scott, Shelly., Richard, Jackie, Paul, Dave, Don