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Published: October 20th 2011
The gentle mastication of a pachyderm is a wonderfully soothing sound. First, the rustle of the grass as it sweeps its giant lumbering trunk over the fodder. Then a whoosh as the tip of the trunk coils itself like an anaconda around a choice mouthful and scoops it up, slapping it against its grey, wrinkled skin on the way up to its mouth to bat away unwanted flies. Next comes the blow of air exhaled through the trunk nostrils, like a breaching whale, followed by the first munch as its colossal pink tongue eases dinner into its cavernous, lubricated gullet. Then, the gentle mastication…chewing and chewing until it’s ready for another trunkful of grass.
Having spent a week preparing food (some 250 tonnes a day) and feeding elephants at the Elephant Nature Park, it seems they like watermelons the most. There is a contented crunch as the watermelon chunk is crushed in the enormous jaws of these fascinating animals. Thus follows a lot of chomping, slurping and swallowing. It’s the sound of someone enjoying their dinner. Given the choice between watermelon and pumpkin, they opt for the watermelon every time. It’s a deeply satisfying sound. If an elephant could burp, I’m sure the mountains around the Mae Taeng Valley in Northern Thailand would reverberate with the echoes of fulfilled and happy elephants belching.
It has been an honour and a privilege to be living and working alongside these giants and I want to share my experiences here with you as I have learnt much about the truly horrific reality of the Asian Elephant which is now considered an endangered species with only 3,000-4,000 alive in Thailand and a mere 30,000 left globally. Of the numbers in Thailand, about half are domesticated and as they form an essential part of the Thai economy, little is done to protect them. They are categorised as livestock and although heading towards extinction, they are classed as no different than buffalo or cattle which means abuse and corruption all round.
However, the elephants at the Elephant Nature Park, some 60kms north of Chiang Mai where I have been volunteering are the lucky ones. They have been saved from trekking camps, street begging, illegal logging, poaching or habitat destruction by the enigmatic Sangduen “Lek” Chailert. A woman who is to elephants what Dian Fossey was to the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. Since 1992 this incredible diminutive woman who I have utmost respect and reverence for, has raised money to rescue elephants who have been the victims of exploitation, torture, land mines and other equally appalling fates.
Each of the 36 strong herd she has accumulated over the past 19 years has their own story of neglect or maltreatment and to see the evidence of this in the form of scarring on their bodies, mauled feet from bomb explosions, their broken distorted limbs from being deliberately raped under duress by bull elephants, or their calculatingly blinded eyes is heart-breaking.
Yet, at the same time these elephants are now in a sanctuary where they are being rehabilitated and will live out their remaining years under the auspices of their mahouts (elephant handlers), who have been trained at the Park here themselves. Many of the mahouts are from Myanmar where elephants (although venerated) have always been a tool for man to utilise to his advantage. Abusive treatment is part and parcel of the training. A mahout has to ensure the elephant will do as commanded when working and the control methods employed historically are simply horrific. It is a centuries-old ritual in northern Thailand designed to domesticate young elephants. Known as the “pajaan” or the training crush, elephants are tied up in a wooden enclosure with no room to move. Immobilised, in a small cage the elephant is beaten, stabbed, deprived of sleep, food and water until it learns to do as instructed by the mahout. The idea is to break the spirit of these majestic animals, to make them submissive, to make them obey their handlers.
Here at the Park, the mahouts have been taught how to control the animals using positive reinforcement. Weighing in at up to 6 tonnes, these beasts need to be controlled if being used for work or tourism but Lek believes in reward not punishment to develop the understanding and bond between handler and animal. To see the mahouts now in almost a symbiotic relationship with their animals is truly remarkable. They spend all day with their elephant, talking to it, walking it and taking it to the river. To see Lek with the elephants is also astonishing. Like many Thai women, she is petite and only about 5foot high. Aged 49, she has the body of a child and would be killed immediately if an elephant got spooked. Yet she is so calm and at peace with them and them with her. Some she has reared herself, and with 2 babies in the herd at the moment, she spends many evenings singing to lullabies to them. Some might say she is one crazy lady but having spent time with her, I can only eulogise her positivity, her conservational efforts, her strength and determination.
It takes a lot of money and a lot of effort to run the Sanctuary and it’s not just elephants that have been helped by Lek. She seems to be amassing a whole heap of other maltreated animals….. there are currently about 80 dogs, 40 water buffalo and cows, a couple of ponies, a load of cats, and a bear which a mahout’s wife rescued. It was discovered being shipped to China to have its bile extracted for medicinal purposes. The bear was only weeks old and now living its days in the beauty and peace of the Park.
Visitors can come to the park for a day, or overnight or like me you can stay for 1 to 2 weeks and volunteer. Without the help of volunteers it would be extremely difficult for the Park to cope with the gastronomic needs of the elephants. They eat a phenomenal amount of fruit and veg and grass……all of which we as volunteers helped unload from the trucks, stack in the elephant kitchen, wash, prepare, feed and then clean up the poop the following day.
The timetable for the day would start at 6am in our little bamboo cabin called The Mud Hut. Sandy and I shared a room and we had our own bathroom (cold water only) which we also shared with an army of tiny black ants that marched furiously up and down the tiles each night ferrying eggs and food in and out of a hole in the wall.
Breakfast down at the main visitor area under wooden air frame buildings and canopies of orchids was served from 7am with the morning work shift at 8am. There were about 17 of us volunteering and split into two groups we would rotate chores. It was a baptism of fire to be on “Poo Duty” on Day 1 of the week. Donning wellington boats and wielding spades and pick-forks we were responsible for shovelling up and disposing the night’s excrement from the herd enclosures. By 9am, the sun was intense and yet as we are still in the tail end of the wet season the air is thick with humidity. After 30 minutes of spearing huge elephant turds onto the back of the tractor I was sweating like a paedophile on a bouncy castle!
Elephant shit is fascinating…. It varies so much depending on the age of the elephant. Older elephants digest less, so food goes straight through them and the turds are mainly grass. Younger elephants absorb more nutrients and their turds are far more satisfying to shovel. Firm but moist, they are easy to pick up using your foot to roll the poop onto the shovel. Less satisfying was scooping the piles of uneaten grass flecked with elephant urine but with teamwork and cooperation we got through it and actually enjoyed it!
Each elephant eats about 2 to 300kgs a day of fruit and grass. Every day, sometimes twice a day trucks of bananas are delivered - approx. 4000 bunches of bananas per delivery . We would get into a chain to unload them passing them down the line and stack them in the holding cages. 2 trucks a week also arrive bearing 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes of watermelons and pumpkins. All were unloaded individually and stacked up ready for preparation. It was hard work as we were loading up baskets of up to 50kgs a pop. 90% of the produce bought is grown locally – thus putting money back into the local economy (the remainder is market bought or grown on sanctuary land) but as the farms use pesticides etc, every single piece of fruit or veg that went into an ele’s morning or afternoon basket would need to be washed and scrubbed in the enormous washing bath. This was back breaking work – standing over the concrete rectangular bath scrubbing and chucking the fruit into another basket for chopping into bite sized pieces.
One morning having twinged my back lifting too many pumpkins in one go, I ended up in a one of the banana cages sorting the bunches into differnet shelves - green, turning yellow and yellow….along with the fruit comes the fruit flies, the cockroaches and the spiders that hide in amongst the produce and so gloves were a necessity to stop getting covered in banana sap and any creepy crawly that might leap out at me.
Throughout the week, our tasks varied from the kitchen prep to poop scooping to grass cutting in the mud on the riverbanks under an infernal sun wielding a machete to cut bamboo style nibbles for the ele’s. I came back from that afternoon with a large blister on my thumb and covered in scratches on my arms from the thick grass - it looked like I had been self-harming!
We also had a morning of watering all the teak tree saplings in the grounds. Part of Lek’s vision is a reforestation project as due to intense logging, so many tracts have land have been destroyed (one of the reasons the flooding has been so bad here) and at the Park, teak trees are being grown for replantation.
For breakfast , lunch and dinner – a heavenly buffet of vegetarian food was available so all the hard manual labour was totally counteracted by the appetizing curries and stir fries. The food was out of this world and after every meal, I sat back as contented as the sated elephants thinking, I really must load up my plate with less food next time! I wasn’t the only one – we all over indulged in the culinary delights of the Park’s kitchen.
If we weren’t working or eating, the only other thing to do was to head to one of the mezzanine levels in the centre and indulge in a daily massage from one of the resident Thai ladies. For £3 for 1 hour, it would have been churlish not to. Lying there having my feet and legs rubbed while they chattered softly to each other is a memory I won’t forget. Thai is a very tonal language…quite beautiful when softly spoken. Lots of ‘ows’ and ‘ongs’ which are sing-song like especially when you’re in a semi-comatose state being sent to massage heaven…the sounds are hypnotic and enchanting.
Most evenings we were in bed by 830pm, exhausted by the day, the mountain of food we had consumed and the knowledge that at 6am the alarm would go again and we would be husking corn or bathing elephants in the cool current of the Mae Taeng river. Smoke from burning crops in the fields would perfume the night air and fireflies would dazzle in the darkness and we would lie under our mosquito net feeling fulfilled but shattered.
It was a tremendous experience and I have met a fabulous bunch of people through doing it – from all over the world. Having arrived in Bangkok with no plan, the plan has fallen into place and with Sandy and I getting on like old friends we are planning to travel together through to the end of November – further North in Thailand, across into Laos and down through Vietnam .
After the week in the mountainous jungle, we were returned to Chiang Mai with its chilled out vibe. It is so much more relaxed and accessible than Bangkok. We have been in a hotel/guesthouse with a pool and have managed to get a good balance between hanging out in the markets, temple visiting , eating & drinking and sleeping…
I am in heaven here. Thailand so far is offering me a totally different travelling experience to other trips. Im still awestruck by the saffron clad monks and the glistening gold wats….the food is to die for, the massages just serene and the company has been brilliant.
We head Northwards tomorrow departing Chiang Mai and into the Golden Triangle of Northern Thailand. Chiang Rai is next.
Hoping all is well. It certainly is here.
Han x
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Jennifer Lette
non-member comment
You took the words out of my mouth (if I'd have the talent to write them)
Hi Hanna, A beautifully written account of our week at the ENP. I am already planning my return and I will be lucky to have such a nice group of people with me the second time around. I adopted Jokia and have to go back to see how she is doing. I fell in love with the way that old blind elephant coped with her life and the way her protector Mae Perm cared for her, soothed her when she was afraid or startled and was just simple the perfect elephant version of a best friend. Those giants were so intelligent and gentle. Drop by Australia some day and I'll show you the sights. Jenny