Day 27 – 29.10.2016
Today, being the last day in Thailand, I decided to do something really special. After my visit to the elephant hospital, I needed more elephants! And with that I wanted to be very close to these large giants. I was picked up at 07:00 from the hotel and after driving to other hotels to pick up potential other guests (which all declined due to the persistent rain and changed their appointments either to the afternoon or cancelled them altogether) I was the only one heading on to do the programm of the morning.
We reached this fence, which holds all the elephants in the large enclosure that is built and rebuilt by volunteers each year.
This ist he view from the top down onto the elephant camp.
All along the sides of the valley you could see elephants – either walking around with their mahouts close by or chained to one area of the mountain. They all get to walk around freely, but whenever there are tourists around they get chained for safety reasons or only some of them get chained with different backgrounds. All of the elephants from the camp are rescued elephants from logging, shows or violent owners. Most of these elephants have had quite a terrible past and are now safe and in a more relaxed environment.
Here you can see mother elephant with her new born son who is quite the wild child. Tossing around things in his enclose and really trying to aggrevate his mum. He wears a bell around his neck, so that when they are let „loose“ to roam around, the mahouts can always find the couple.
As you can see most of the elephants walk around freely – especially during the morning times. Sometimes they are also chained underneath big shaded areas during midday, in order for them to avoid getting sunburns or even skin cancer.
I changed into some mahout clothing in order to not get my own clothing dirty and then came the part of the daytrip why had I had wanted to come in the first place. I got to ride Boonyoung! I am sorry, as most of the photos following will be of me doing just that. But I just had to document this experience!
This is Boonyoungs mahout. The mahouts at the camp are all very young. If I remember right, he is about 18 years old.
This is how you ride an elephant – you sit on their neck, as far on their head as possible, with your feet tucked in under their ears. Your feet pretty much touch the elephants legs or better said their shoulder blades, so you feel every step they take!
Elephants, or mountain goats, as I would like to call them, are animals that live in the jungles and mountains. (At least the Asian ones...) They are very front heavy, and you could nearly say that they were three-legged – their two front legs and their trunk... Which is why you move forward whenever the elephant is climbing up a slope. I most say Boonyoung chose some very off road routes along the way!
This is another view from the camp (opposite from where I had entered the premises).
Elephants use their trunks to test whether it is safe for them to step ahead. (Or to just play in the puddles....)
Elephants only move to go and find food. We definitely did several munchies stops along the way.
And by the way – this slope was super easy for her.
Queen of the worrrrrld!
Bamboo was also very interesting and I could feel her munching away on the bamboo. Quite intense to be so close to her molars... She would also randomly snap the bamboo in two with her trunk as if it was the easiest thing to do...
And then we went for a swim!
At some point she just sat down, I slid off and I gave her a little bath. I mean you can see how tall she is – I am standing, she is half sitting half lieing down in the water.
What an experience!
Time for some love.
Sorry – elephants only move to find food and to scratch themselves – here I helped a little...
After the little swim I had to get back up onto Boonyoung. But unfortunately she didnt move sideways to that I could just slip on like when I first got on. Instead she lowered her head and I climbed up onto her that way. A little scary but thats just how the mahouts get onto their elephants..
Heading up to get Boonyoung watered.
In the background you can see another elephant cow. She is the oldest and the matriarch of the patchwork family. It is also quite incredible to see the respect my elephant gave to the matriarch by not wanting to pass her as a sign of respect. Only after a lot of persuading and ear tagging Boonyoung moved onwards.
I was truely one of the best experiences I had on this trip! It was really amazing! I think I never stopped grinning and smiling the whole ride.
I then even got some lunch and as I was heading back, the next group headed out to experience the same amazing experience as I had. If an elephant doesnt feel like riding then he or she wont be used. Each elephant will only ride maximum and hour, split up into 30 minute interactions.
By the way – this is the place I visited: Ran Tong
It was a really informative morning and any questions I had were answered. And I had a lot! It was just such a pleasant experience and I never felt like the elephants were mistreated or unhappy.
After I got back to the hotel, my phone told me that my flight would be delayed by an hour. Sooooo I decided to go for a nice massage in the meanwhile. Unfortunately it wasnt as great as I had hoped but it was still a nice way to finish my time in Thailand. After the massage I used the free airport transfer and headed there.
My flight would take me from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, then from Bangkok to Abu Dhabi and then from Abu Dhabi back to Munich. Since I was able to check in my luggage for the whole route of my journey, I had to check in on the international part of the airport (even though I was first flying back to Bangkok).
After endulging in a RED VELVET COOKIE WITH CREAMCHEESE FROSTING!!!!!! we were then called up and walked to the airplane. The flight was short and quick and without any problems...
Changing planes in Abu Dhabi.
We landed in Munich at 06:00 in the morning leaving Bangkok at about 35°C and landing at -1°C.... What a climate shock!
It was a lovely trip and it was great meeting new friendly faces, eat delicious food and see some incredible landscapes and cultural landmarks. I had the most amazing time and am already racking my brain as to where to go next!
