Nirvana: May 5, 2016 Elephant Riding

Yesterday we did one of the most amazing family outings, we learned all about elephants and got to ride the elephants. We went to the Thailand Elephant Conservation Center where we did their 1 day Mahout training course. This camp is run by the Thailand government and houses rescued and retired working elephants. Elephants used to be employed in logging and construction work, and are still used in the tourism industry in shows and taking people for rides. This center rescues poorly treated elephants and elephants bred in captivity. They showed us the hospital and nursery, and seem to run a very good program.

Of course the most exciting part was riding the elephants, bathing the elephants and learning how to get on and off the elephants. Mounting the elephant proved significantly harder than the mahout's demonstration. Unfortunately Gary found out the hard way how high off the ground the elephant's head really is. As he was trying to mount the elephant from the front, over its trunk, his elephant lifted her head and launched him through the air. All I heard was the loud splat of Gary hitting the ground. Needless to say he is still hurting today.

We were super lucky to go on a quiet day, so we were each assigned our own elephant and mahout (trainer). They taught us some basic commands for controlling the elephant, but soon found out that the elephant only occasionally listened to us and almost always listened to the mahout.

We did a short ride into the field, then came back to learn more. Then we got a longer ride through the jungle to the nursery, which concluded with an unexpected walk through a small lake. My elephant loved to spray water out of her trunk and doused Gigi, Axel and I.

At the nursery we fed the mother and baby elephants. Toured the hospital and the dung paper factory. Enjoyed a fantastic lunch, watched their elephant demonstration, then got the ride back and the elephant bathing. I think the later is more tourist rinsing, but it was really fun. As we rode the elephants into the lake, the mahout gave a command and the elephant went completely underwater. Gary had Jan, the comedian mahout, so his elephant went really far underwater. As you can see from the photos, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the bathing.

Then another ride through the jungle and a sad farewell to our new friends, the elephants and the mahouts.

Cheers,

Julie