Elephant Trekking in Laos

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Good news! I now have one of those 'crazy' bus stories that every backpacker seems to end up with at some point. You know the ones with chickens on the roof, washing machines strapped to the back of the bus and bags of rice strategically placed all through the cabin... At the last minute myself and some other backpackers (infact about 20 of us) all decided to ditch the 2 day slow boat trip down the Meekong into Laos and take a 12 hour bus ride instead.. bascially we were all sick of traveling all the time and it was quicker.

As it turns out it was a great bus ride even though it was crazy (partially due to the 4 bottles of whisly a few of us shared) but mainly due the fact we got to experience the real Loas all the way. It felt like the bus stopped about every 30 minutes to pick up or drop of something in a local village. Originally they told us it would take about 12 hours, but it ended up by being about 17 and we finally arrived in Luang Prabang around 5am the following morning... needless to say price was not the issue when trying to find somewhere to stay for the night!

So after arriving in Luang Prabang the former capital of Laos I decided it was time to get back to nature and do some Elephant Trekking in the jungle.

Now this is a relatively easy thing to do as you can 'ride' elephants pretty much anywhere in Asia but after seeing the real thing previously in Africa I was after something a little more special and more importantly not as touristy! I saw some terrible things in Pie (Thailand) that I am sure hsppens all over Asia, where elephants are tied up with a chain to a post and tourists come up get a quick picture then do a 10 min elephant ride around a small track... about 100 times a day! It's so cruel and not something I support at all.

So after surveying about 6 local companies I came across one in town called "Elephant Village" formally XL Elephant camp that appeared to be the best (and luckily I was right). They seemed to have a good balance of actually caring for the elephants (such as letting them sleep out in the jungle at night), supporting the local village and supporting general conservation in the area. Oh and the best thing is all the elephants were formally in the logging industry and they had been rescued etc and brought to the camp effectivelly for retirement. So without any hesitation I paid my US$85 and booked a two day trip with them which also included the accomodation.

And wait for it.... in typical Laos style they forgot to pick me up the next day after getting up early and checking out of my hostel. So I simply walked back to my room, checked in again and got the same room back (still dirty and all) that I just checked out of 1 hour earlier... like I said... your in Laos, what can you do... you get used to it after a while?? Luckily the next day they remembered to pick me up on time and drove me out to the Elephant Camp in a real authentic 1968 Land Rover with holes in the floor and all... which added I think added to the charm of it all.

The camp was great and I was lucky to be in a group with two other aussies as well. They were both about 24, from Melbourne (same as me) and dentists... Needles to say we had a ball and I really enjoyed hanging out with them for a few days. The trip we had booked in on was actually an "mahout elephant training course". Mahouts are the local guys that train/ride the elephants etc, they usually stay with them for life etc so the bond s very strong. So we were there to learn how they do it, what they do and then actually do it with the elephants ourselves... and it was brilliant.

We got to learn the commands to control the elephants, walk them out to the jungle to sleep at night and then go find them the next morning in the jungle and bring them back to the camp. The highlight was definitely the second day when we got to ride/walk them into the river and bath them, scrubbing brush and all. It was amazing and an experience I will always remember. We got some amazing photos which you can have a look at. You'll also notice in most of the pictures we are riding bareback on the neck etc. This is how the mahouts ride them... it was very cool... once you got used to it. I highly reccomend wearing long shorts too, elephants are a lot more 'prickly' than you would expect... especially around the neck!

The accommodation was also really good, perched on the side of the river near the camp. Also as a special treat our guide took us into the local village in the evening after dinner and showed us how they party Laos style... needless to say we woke up with sore heads the next day due to way to many shots of 'laos loas' the local home made whisky. All in all and great couple of days.

Next stop the backpacker haven of Vang Vieng and tubing on the river!

So as they say in Laos.... "Gooood Evening Luang Prabang" I assume their taking the micky out of Vietnam!

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Comments

[bruno]

elephants
Now THAT is cool and the first time i am seriously jealous. good on ya for finding such a special elephants experience! Laos has now offically moved up on my countries-to-visit list.