As I wrote I spent 3 days in an elephant village. It was really a great experience - I had to take care about Dong-Ma (meaning Flower). She is an 78 year old lady - already retired but still very interested in bulls :-). It was just unique - you join them and you get your own elephant to take care about. Well, this is really hard work! You get up in the morning around 8pm and first you clean the shit and then bring your elephant from the sleeping place to the place for the day. Then of course Dong-Ma needed breakfast which is grass that cuts your arms. Elephants eat about 200kg a day.
After feeding my elephant I went for a ride to the river for a morning bath. It is so great to ride an elephant - I learnt about 10 commands and they actually do listen. Especially swimming in the river with them is a unique experience because they dive but as the river is not so deep you are half in the water - so they dive and come up again. Then after the first bath back to the camp putting Dong-Ma where she belongs for the day and again of course feeding her :-).
After that you get some rest - every second day I was scrubbing Dong-Ma so that her skin stays in good condition and in the afternoon we went for a long ride in the nature and then you just relax on your elephant while it is wandering around and eating all kind of grass. I was able already during the first day to manage here alone without needing a mahout with me. But believe me it is really hard work they are eating so much (I was constantly busy checking food for her!) but you get it back because these animals are so loving - first time when I was riding on Dong-Ma she was holding my legs with her ears so that I dont fall off her. Really caring.
So it is a lot of responsibility to take care about your own elephant :-). This programe is really unique and not so many people know about it - the best is that it is run by two australian women! They are breeding little elephants (one of the most successful ones in the world), rehabilitating killer bulls and taking also care about the old elephants that deserve to have a rest after a very hard life. We only were riding on female elephants because as everybody knows males are more unpredictable especially when the testosterone level is high.
These two amazing women - lesbians by the way - run an elephant village with over 100 elephants and more than 100 employees mostly mahouts. They do such a great job and they are really great human beings. I was really amazed! Michelle always wanted to work with elephants in the zoo in Melbourne but she never got it - she worked there with other animals - and whenever she applied for the elephants she got neglected. Well she said it was politics: "Who wants to have a fat, over 40 year old lesbian woman dealing with elephants?" So she said to her partner - we have to find other options and she came to Thailand and took over this big elephant conservatory. They have done a great job and they are such experts on elephants - the whole thing is a non-profit organisation.
After feeding my elephant I went for a ride to the river for a morning bath. It is so great to ride an elephant - I learnt about 10 commands and they actually do listen. Especially swimming in the river with them is a unique experience because they dive but as the river is not so deep you are half in the water - so they dive and come up again. Then after the first bath back to the camp putting Dong-Ma where she belongs for the day and again of course feeding her :-).
After that you get some rest - every second day I was scrubbing Dong-Ma so that her skin stays in good condition and in the afternoon we went for a long ride in the nature and then you just relax on your elephant while it is wandering around and eating all kind of grass. I was able already during the first day to manage here alone without needing a mahout with me. But believe me it is really hard work they are eating so much (I was constantly busy checking food for her!) but you get it back because these animals are so loving - first time when I was riding on Dong-Ma she was holding my legs with her ears so that I dont fall off her. Really caring.
So it is a lot of responsibility to take care about your own elephant :-). This programe is really unique and not so many people know about it - the best is that it is run by two australian women! They are breeding little elephants (one of the most successful ones in the world), rehabilitating killer bulls and taking also care about the old elephants that deserve to have a rest after a very hard life. We only were riding on female elephants because as everybody knows males are more unpredictable especially when the testosterone level is high.
These two amazing women - lesbians by the way - run an elephant village with over 100 elephants and more than 100 employees mostly mahouts. They do such a great job and they are really great human beings. I was really amazed! Michelle always wanted to work with elephants in the zoo in Melbourne but she never got it - she worked there with other animals - and whenever she applied for the elephants she got neglected. Well she said it was politics: "Who wants to have a fat, over 40 year old lesbian woman dealing with elephants?" So she said to her partner - we have to find other options and she came to Thailand and took over this big elephant conservatory. They have done a great job and they are such experts on elephants - the whole thing is a non-profit organisation.
If you plan to come to Thailand once you have to visit this place - you can find more information on the following website: elephantstay.com. I really spend such a happy time there, totally immersed in my elephant Dong-Ma and just caring about her. Well one would not believe it but you really develop a relationship to these animals and you start understanding them perfectly. I certainly will go there again - it was just wonderful!
In Thailand Elephants have a long history and have been always very important to the people. In fact they helped a lot to build the country as it is now and they are used to live with the people. But they have lost their jobs with civilisation - leaving them and their mahouts being forced to beg on the streets for food. It is sad - nowadays elephants dont have much options anymore they dont have space enough to live in Thailand in the forests as they need a lot of space that is not existing anymore - and also as life partners and big helpers of humans they have lost their purpose and have been replaced by machines. But these elephants - like humans need also their "jobs". The new career they have now is in tourism. It is not so bad as it is not such a hard work than it was years ago.
Mounara
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