Maybe teacher was an elephant in her past life . . .

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It's no secret that I love elephants. I think they are strange and beautiful in their enormous oafy way. I think that their eyes are really soulful and that when you see their profiles, they often seem to be smiling and playful, a bit mischievous, too. They are definitely greedy for food, but I guess you might be, too, if you needed to eat 250-350 kilos of food a day. Despite what science tells us about the complexity of their brains, I choose to believe that elephants can feel and even if that is not the case, I feel content in their presence.

One of my students has looked at all of the MANY elephant pictures on my computer and has come to the conclusion that "Maybe teacher was an elephant in her past life," this theory only strengthened by my unreasonable fear of mice and rats. This particular student's family is, incidentally, Christian, but that's a whole other story about the syncretic religious beliefs in Thailand.

On the first trip to Thailand this past summer, Fiona and I went to visit a place called Elephant Nature Park, in Chiang Mai province. The park is a friendly haven for more than 30 elephants, as well as many dogs and cats. The elephants that aren't born in the park are rescued by the sassy Thai woman, Lek (means 'Little') who began the park and promotes its efforts at home and abroad. She is a petite woman but with a huge heart and and an indomitable spirit. I didn't get to meet her personally, but we watched a video about the park and her work that was really inspiring.

Though it was rather expensive to visit the park (certainly by backpacker standards-- about $75), it was completely worth it for me! Besides learning about the challenges facing the elephants in Thailand, we also got to feed them and brush them/wash them in the river. It was fabulous! There are no touristy elephant rides at this park, nor any elephants playing soccer, painting pictures, or making pad thai!

For more information on this special place, the website is:

http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

And in case you are interested, here are some elephant facts:
-Can walk up to 25 km per day
-Can swim for 6 hours without resting
-Eat 250-350 kilos day
-Drink 200 liters of water/day
-Excrete 17-20 times/day
-Brain 5X as big as human brain

The word for elephant in Thai is 'chang' (ชาง) like the ever-popular brand of beer here that features two elephants on the label. Though I sure love the animal, I have more of a love/hate relationship with Chang beer 😊


*The photos on this blog are mine and Fiona's from our trip to the Elephant Nature Park, summer 2008

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Photos

Elephant kiss
Look at the smile on 'Hope's' face!