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Published: April 2nd 2008
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Elephant Butts
My favorite pic! :) Minutes after arriving at ENP for my two week volunteer placement, I knew I had made the right desicion. The website was vague about what volunteers at the park actually do, but I was ready to get my hands dirty and do some hard work. Volunteers stay at the park in week-long increments, and my first week there were about 25 volunteers, people from the UK, Australia, and NZ of all ages. There was even one woman there whose kids sponsored her to volunteer at the park for 2 weeks for her 70th birthday! She was amazing, got right in and did all the physical work with everyone else.
We had pretty early days at the park, and had to be at the lodge for morning chores at 7:30am. With elephants, buffalo, cows, dogs, and cats all residing at the park, a large amount of our chores involved poop. The elephant poop around the platforms and in the shelters had to be picked up everyday, both for appearance as well as to prevent diseases from growing. Every morning we went around the platform and picked up elephant poop, and put them into massive bags. ENP developed a partnership with
a local farm, and every week we give them about 300 pounds of elephant manure, and the park gets yummy organic veggies in return! Elephant poop wasn't so bad, seeing as it's just dried straw basically, but the buffalo sheds were by far the worst chore. The buffalo are locked up in an open shed w/ cement floors every night, and every morning a few volunteers had to go in, pour water on the floors, and sweep/scrub them clean. This basically results in just runny gross buffalo crap everywhere, and it smelled SOOO bad in there. The first time I did it I was in flip flops, and had slimey crap (literally, crap) between my toes, all over my feet, and wasn't informed until AFTER the fact that there were wellington boots available for us to wear. Lovely.
So elephant poop, buffalo poop, cat poop were standard jobs that we did every morning, and then from about 8:30-11 we would have another assignment. This changed every single day. There was always something broken that needed to get fixed, or something new that was being built. One day we went in the big truck and loaded in a ton
And more elephant Poo
The elephant in the back does not seem impressed of bamboo, for a structure they were building at the park, another days we helped reinforce the fence around the feeding platform (so that nosey elephants can't get too close or onto the platform). Another day we went to a local school and got to teach for a morning. Volunteers from previous weeks had made up simple lesson plans that we used, and it was a great time. One little girl latched onto me during recess and dragged me all around, pointing at things and getting me to say their name in Thai-so cute! Some of the tasks were easier, like getting to help out in the kitchen, or working in the gardens, and some were incredibly hard. One day we all jumped in the truck, and drove out to a super thistlely and thorny hill, where we had to cut down banana trees with machetes, and then drag them down the hill and load them into the truck-all in 100 degree heat!! Everyone was completely filthy and sweaty by the time we were finished, but that was a theme throughout my two weeks, I was always covered in mud or dirt! In the afternoon we always went down to
the river to help bathe the elephants in the river, so that was always a good excuse to cool off. Also, the food was AMAZING! Everyday, there was a huge buffet lunch and dinner, with a million different thai dishes, and tons of fresh fruit. I think I ate my weight in pinapple every single day.
One of the best parts of being a volunteer is you get the opportunity to go to Elephant Haven. Lek owns this area of land, in a heavily forrested hilly area a few miles away from where the park is. Every week, a family group of elephants and their mahouts make the trek out to this area, which is nicknamed Elephant Haven. There is a simple hut up at the top of the mountain, and once they get to the top, the elephants are released and are allowed to roam freely for the rest of the night. The volunteers get to make the trek out with the elephants, and spend the night sleeping in the hut. The elephants roam and graze freely throughout the night, and then the next morning we all set out with the mahouts to find the elephants! You
Elephant Haven
Our humble abode up in the woods would think that two ton animals would leave a really big trail, but it actually took us more than an hour before we found them. Elephant haven is so great because it lets the elephants roam with complete freedom, no fences, no mahouts, just them in the natural habitat. Even though the elephants only get to do it one night a week, it's still amazing to see the elephants roaming freely. Walking up to elephant haven was steep, but thankfully the elephants set a nice leisurely pace up the hill.
Even though we worked hard, being at the park was so peaceful and zen-like. During the day we were kept really busy with tasks, and there was always the bustle of the day visitors all around. But at 5pm, after the last of the day visitors left, everything just quieted down to this amazing calm. Every day around then I would just sit up on the platform and read, or just watch the elephants. It seems surreal that for those two weeks, having to duck around an elephant to get to your house seemed normal! 😊 One day, one of the afternoon chores was to shuck about a
Elephant Haven
After we found the elephants the next morning. million ears of corn. The elephants love corn, but they can't eat the husks. All the volunteers were just sitting on the back porch chatting and husking with our baskets of corn, and suddenly up wandered a curious elephant-she had smelled food! We threw her a couple of ears of corn, and then her mahout somehow managed to drag her away so we could finish. There are a bunch of full-time employees at the park, a couple from Australia and even a woman from Ypsilanti! Jodi, the woman from Ypsilanti has lived at the park for over 5 years, and after being there for two weeks I can just imagine how quickly her time there must have flown by. All the volunteers have such a great time together, we all worked hard during the day, and then just hung out in the evening, playing cards or just chatting. Everyone was always so worn out from the day we were always in bed by 10pm! I was so glad I decided to stay for two weeks, the first week flew by before I even knew what hit me. Staying longer also gave me the chance to really get to know the
park employees, and the elephants! Of the 31 elephants, a bunch have major distinguishing features, like a brand, or distinctive scar, but even after 2 weeks I could really only identify 10-15 of them. I think the fact that they all had really complicated Thai names also added to my confusion.
My time at ENP was one of the most memorable times of my life. I would recommend anyone who is travelling to Thailand to check this place out. The elephants are such beautiful creatures, and it's so uplifting to interact with happy, free elephants, as opposed to just riding on thier backs. Lek has done such an amazing service by rescuing these animals, but there are still so many animals in need throughout Thailand. If you're interested in learning more about the park, or making a donation, check out their website:
www.elephantnaturefoundation.com
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