Elephant Sanctuary

It's my final week in Chiang Mai and I have spent much of it going out on trips with my Mum and John.
The highlight was when we went to the Elephant Nature Park.

There are several day trips to see elephants but this one stood out as special, and I chose it as it rescues and cares for misued and injured elephants and gives them a safe home for the rest of their lives.

This elephant had just been bathing in river

The setting was breathtaking, with 2,000 acres of park for the 36 rescued and orphaned Elephants to roam free.

Visiting the park, they told us that elephants were traditionally working animals for logging and clearing land for development. But after logging was abolished in the 80s, most elephants were no longer needed, and the population declined rapidly.



Nowadays, elephants are mainly seen as big sources of income in tourist areas. Many elephants in Thailand are abused, malnourished, and experience harsh treatment. They work strenuous hours for tourists for everything from walking city streets to jungle trips and tourist shows. There is virtually no protection for privately owned elephants, and although it's illegal to bring elephants into cities, it's seldom enforced.
Their mahouts walk them along busy streets with traffic all around and tourists pay for a bag of food and pose for a photo while feeding them. This makes easy money for the mahout but is less than adequate food or life for the elephant.
Luckily, this is where the Elephant Nature Park comes in. It's a place where elephants roam with their adopted families after being abused or mistreated.

Some elephants were abandoned, but many were bought from owners in order to save their lives.  

Our day began with a video about the park. 

It was founded by a passionate Thai woman, Lek, the granddaughter of a hill tribe shaman.
The park's objectives: rehabilitating elephants, restoring natural habitat, educating and involving the local community, educating visitors, and helping make changes to improve the treatment of elephants.

Our first task was to feed the elephants that were old, injured and two of them blind.

This lady decided to help herself.

While others were fed by their mahouts and we were not able to go too near them, however we were able to see and photograph them with ease.

I took this shot from a viewing platform as they were going to the river for the first of their two daily dips.

Others just took it easy.....

And 'hung out' together......

After a wonderful vegetarian buffet lunch we were introduced to some of the elephants and able to have our photos taken with them.

Despite being reassured they wouldn't hurt me, it is still unnerving to be between two of these magnificent beasts (and yes I did change my shorts to go into the river to bathe them)

This one was giving Mum an Elephant kiss

Spending the day in such a wonderful place with these gentle beautiful creatures and learning that their safety and tranquility is all down to one lady is truely amazing and very humbling.

We only spent a day at the park but there is simple but comfortable accomodation so that you could stay for a night or two and also a volunteer programme to stay for a week and help out with the upkeep of the park and food preperation.
It all comes at a price but all goes towards the large sums of money needed for such a project.
A worthwhile cause indeed...

 XXX