Elephant Heaven on Earth

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Ready to do a little time traveling?

I hope so, because I'm now about six months behind on my blogging and desperately trying to catch up! These elephant adventures come from last November, when we had a slew of American friends visiting and we all spent some time up in Chiang Mai, in the northern part of Thailand. If you've ever wondered what it's like to get up close and personal with a creature that stands 10 feet tall and weight upwards of 8,000 pounds...read on!

It was set to be an all-girls' day out at Ran-Tong Elephant Camp. My friends Katie, Anjelica, and I signed up for a half-day visit to feed, ride, and bathe the elephants, while Jeremy was going to hang out in town on his own. Unfortunately, Anjelica came down with a terrible cold the morning of our visit, so she passed her ticket onto Jeremy and off the three of us went!

Ran-Tong, like many camps in Thailand, has been set up exclusively as a rescue center for elephants that have been overworked or abused. Sadly, many captive elephants endure hard lives in logging camps or sideshows, where they're terribly mistreated. Ran-Tong is one of many organizations that goes in and rescues such elephants in order to give them a better quality of life. To cover the costs of caring for the elephants (you thought your dog was expensive??), the camps offer programs where tourists can spend some quality time with the animals. Tourists are happy, the animals are happy, and it's a win-win situation for everyone!

We arrived at Ran-Tong after a torrential downpour, which left a nice cool mist in the air. We stepped off the min-bus and gazed in awe at the lush green valley below us, where we saw a dozen or so elephants wandering through the grass. Our mahout guide greeted us and gave us a change of clothes (you get VERY dirty playing with elephants, let me assure you!), and then we sat down to hear a little bit about the camp and the each of the elephants they'd rescued. One thing we loved about the camp was that the animals were very well cared-for. They weren't forced to paint, do circus poses, or other unnatural activities, and they're only ever ridden bareback, which is much healthier than strapping a heavy wooden bench to their backs.

Our first interaction came in the form of feeding. A basket full of bananas was passed around, and the free-roaming elephants crowed around us like a group of VERY large puppy dogs and eagerly pulled the snacks from our hands. They're so large and powerful, yet so incredibly gentle! When you'd turn to reach into the bucket, you'd have three or four trunks invading your space, all stretching for those yummy bananas in your arms. It was pretty awesome.

After feasting on bananas, the mahouts lined the elephants up for us and one by one we climbed aboard. Katie and I shared an elephant named Mae Noi, while Jeremy rode solo on an elephant named Pao. No benches, no saddles, no blankets...just you and the animal, au natural. Once we were all mounted the mahouts led us on a leisurely journey through the valley, up and down the hillside, and finally back to a shallow lake for bath time. Let me tell you...it is an amazing experience to see a 4-ton animal just plop down in the water and relax while you grab a bucket and start scrubbing him (or her) clean.

Once the elephants were nice and clean, we hopped back on and rode a bit more, circling around to the courtyard for some photo ops. Afterwards we all sat down to a delicious home-cooked Thai curry and fresh sliced mangoes for dessert. Another awesome thing about Ran-Tong? They have professional photographers that escort you for all the activities, so you get to go home with phenomenal pictures and share the experience with your friends and family!

We boarded our mini-bus filthy, wet, and smelling of elephant, but we couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces if our lives depended on it. The next time I'm in Chiang Mai I will most definitely be paying another visit to an elephant camp!

Over the past six months we've made visa runs to Vientiane, Laos (lovely little city), and back to Kuala Lumpur to visit our friends there. We also spent a long weekend down in Hua Hin, a coastal town about three hour south of Bangkok. In two weeks' time, we're off on our next visa run, this time to Cambodia! And some of you may also know that we'll be back "home" in Arizona and Colorado this summer for a few months, so we'll look forward to seeing many of you then.

In the meantime, we're still in Bangkok, baking in the "summertime" heat and humidity. It's hot season right now, and let me tell ya...they aren't kidding. It forces us to hide inside in the air-conditioning as much as possible, but look at the bright side...it's a good excuse for me to get caught up on my blogging!

More updates coming soon...I promise!!

(Don't forget to scroll down for more elephant photos!)

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