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Elephant camp day 1
We arrived at the elephant camp and right away we could see elephants through the windows of the van. We were greeted by the owner who's name is Bom and he told us about how BaanChang Elephant Park came to be. He used to work as a tour guide at an elephant show where elephants would paint pictures and do tricks and really came to love elephants but he felt that elephants should'nt be treated the way they are. Elephants are his passion and he opened up a camp for retired elephants. All the elephants here are from tours, trekking and shows. A lot of these elephants were overworked, and forced to do things that no elephant is sopossed to do. One of the elephants was a show elephant and she constantly 'dances' back and forth waving her head. She's done it ever since she's gotten here and they hope that one day she will stop but they aren't sure. The companies sell elephants when they get older and can't perform as well as they did back when they were younger, so BaanChang buys them and gives them a proper elephanty life. He started with just
a few elephants as it costs quite a bit of money to purchase them/care for them. We paid quite a bit of money to come to this camp but after being here and seeing,learning we both feel its worth every penny. The money is well used. It goes toward purchasing new elephants, feeding the elephants, and the welfare of the elephants, not to the workers. There is also land for sale beside this property and Bom wants to buy it. He doesn't have the money right now but he's hoping in the next few years to be able to buy it. He's asked the government for money numerous times but they keep saying no. They'd rather give money to the tour companies and what not that bring lots of money into the country rather than elephant rescuing.
We were given our Mahout clothes, a jean shirt and capri/short like get up and had our first lesson. We learned a little more about the elephants and the commands to use while riding them. Bai - forward , Noolong- down, How - Stop, Kwai Kwai - left or right (you use your foot to show the elephant the direction). We learned
that elephants live to be 80 years old if taken care of properly. All Thai elephants have a passport and some a microchip. If they do not have a passport it means they are illegal elephants. There are two types of elephants, Asian and African. African elephants are one solid color and a lot larger then Asian elephants. The camp here has 16 elephants, all different ages. When elephants sleep they sleep laying down for about 3-4 hours. Elephants eat 250 killigrams a day, and poop out 50-70 killigrams a day. They eat a lot of bananas, sugar cane, and other fruits and vegetables. Elephants eat at different times just like humans and do need exercise. The walks we go on with them is their exercise.
We walked over closer to the elephants and got to feed them sugar cane. We were told that you don't trick the elephants, when you offer them food you give it to them. You can either put it in their mouth or trunk. The elephants seem to really like it!
Next we learned how to get on and off the elephants. Then we practiced walking around and using our newly learned commands.
We still walk with a guide when on the elephants. I personally think they aren't listening to us but it's still interesting and fun.
After we had some lunch which was really tastey. Not like other tours where the food is really bland. And there was food galore! LouLou our guide kept filling our plates up with more rice, stirfry, and our bowls with soup.
After lunch we rode our elephants. I sat on the head, while Tristan sat behind. We walked up one side of the mountain, stopped at the stop point, had another information session, and then switched spots on the elephants. Down hill was hard as I kept sliding forward into Tristan.
Once we got down the hill we went to wash the elephants. You have to be very careful with where your standing as elephants roll on to their sides and kick their legs. Their legs can really hurt you if you are in the way. The elephants love to put water in their trunk and spray it. Kristin doesn't love it so much. I got my face covered in dirt that they suck up from the bottom of the water, and I
can't get the sand out of my hair even after having a shower. It was a lot of fun though. The elephants seem to love the water.
There are 2 day and 1 day courses. There are only 4 of us that are here for the 2 day. We parted with the 1 dayers and were taken to our rooms for the night. They are nice clean king size beds with a bathroom outside. We had showers and cleaned off then hung out with the two others who are a mother and daughter. She is on a school sponsered trip studying International Food, and her mother is visiting as she has been gone for 3 months now.
Elephants are really lovely creatures. They are so huge but seem so gentle at the same time. They seem very soulful.
Dinner again was a ton of food. I asked what they do with the leftovers and we got told that they give it to the dogs. After dinner we went and sat around a campfire. They don't know what marshmallows are! Tris and I decided that when we go on our trek we are going to bring a bag
of marshmallows if we can find them. I'm sure we'll have camp fires on them too. We got to let lanterns go in the air. LouLou tried explaining the symbolic reasoning behind letting lanterns go but he didn't know how in English. From what I understood, it has something to do with releasing something, letting go. I've seen lanterns be let go before at home, its pretty neat. After we sat around the campfire and some of the mahouts sang songs and played guitar. They also played the drums on a big jug and a peice of tin that would be part of a roof. We also got to try sticky rice that was cooked inside a bamboo shoot on the fire. The owner sat down with us and talked to Tris and I. He explained more about the camp and how his life came to be. He said we wouldn't believe him if he told us about the things he used to do. But one day he decided that he wanted to do good with his life and decided to buy this land and create a place for elephants. His family all thought he was crazy. He said he
has lots of money but he has no time to do anything as he is always working. He has a 3 month old baby and he's put money aside for when he grows up and wants to go to school. He's looking at buying a new elephant that is 14 years old. It will cost about 750 000 baht ($25 000). He started tearing up when he was talking about his past and how far he's come.
We also learned some more interesting facts about the elephants. An elephant weighs approx 250 lbs when born. A girl elephant is carried in the womb for 18-22 months, where a boy is carried for usually about 24 months. Elephants mate for life. When a male elephant is in heat they have to be set aside as they go really crazy. There is a duct behind the eyes and a hormone or something pours out, which we think is to attract the female elephants. We aren't sure because we can't get close to it. This will last for about 1-2 months. No one can get near the male elephant. They have to throw food close to it as not even the Thai
people are safe.
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