Happy New Year!

I will dub 2010 the Year of the Elephant, just because I got to spend my New Year's Eve day with a group of amazing pachyderms. Wow. This experience was everything I was hoping for and more - by far the coolest touristy thing I have ever done in my life. Elephants are so amazing. They are enormous, first of all, and you really get a sense of how strong they are when you are standing right next to them. But amazingly, they are also so gentle. We spent about 8 hours at the Elephant Nature Park. If you Google it you will find tons of information. The woman who founded the park is also amazing. She is totally hands-on and inspiring, one of those rare people who have found a passion and made it their life's mission. She has 34 elephants currently, including 2 babies, on a swath of land that covers 150 acres, and they have recently purchased more land so they can rescue more elephants. Rescue from what, you may ask? Well, it's interesting because elephants are such a symbol of Thailand, but their story is complex. Basically there are wild elephants and domestic ones. For years domestic elephants were used in the logging industry, but logging was banned in 1989 leaving thousands of elephants unemployed and unable to be released back into the wild.

So Lek (the founder) has taken in several elephants who used to work in the logging industry. Unfortunately they were often mistreated. One of the elephants had been blinded because she refused to work after she lost her baby. Another had been addicted to amphetamines which the owners gave her so she would work all day at one operation, and all night at another. The stories were heartbreaking, but now the elephants are in a much better place. They are treated with the utmost love and respect by everyone who works and volunteers there.

Another one of the park's projects is a traveling medical clinic to care for elephants in the surrounding villages, some of whom are used for illegal street begging. In Bangkok sometimes you will see (although I did not) someone on the street with their elephant offering to let you feed it for money. They make good money off the deal, but it is very unhealthy for the elephants. They get stressed by the lights and noise and sometimes get hit and injured, or worse, by the passing cars. Some of the elephants at the park were also formerly involved in this line of work.

I learned a lot today, and I took almost 400 pictures, which frankly is a little obnoxious. I was that annoying tourist that the guide had to keep rounding up because we were moving on in this direction or that. I was just so fascinated by these creatures, though, and was more or less in my own world the whole day. I learned that it's actually OK to ride elephants if it's through a company that treats them well. I also learned that elephants sleep only 4 hours a night, but spend about 18 hours a day eating or looking for food (I knew there was a reason I loved these guys so much!), and eat up to 10% of their bodyweight each day. We watched a video about how they train them, which is not pretty. Another thing that Lek is working on is training the two babies at the park using positive reinforcement, as opposed to the brutal methods traditionally used, in the hopes that she can change people's minds. She's not opposed to domesticating elephants, just the methods used to do so.

Anyway, it was an amazing day, a great way to start the new year. Here's to a year of health, happiness, and dreams come true.


A group of elephants grazes after their bath.


Bath time!


Making friends with Jokia, the blind elephant.