It is incredible to spend time up close with an elephant. They are human like in their interactions and each one has a distinct personality. We visited the Elephant Nature Park sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was an experience we will never forget.
The day began with a visit from an elephant eager to get her morning fruit. They used a protective barrier initially to help everyone understand proper feeding techniques from a safe distance.
Then it was time to get up close. We walked around the grounds and met lots of elephants. Since elephants live to be 100, many come to live at the sanctuary once they are too old to work. Our guide described how you can tell the age of an elephant by its spots and sunken temples. The first elephant we met was 75 years old and had worked in logging all her life. When her productivity declined due to aging, she came to live at the sanctuary. It’s far too costly to feed an unproductive elephant, so places like Elephant Nature Park rescue elder elephants and provide a comfortable retirement lifestyle.
The guide told Georgia to hold a hose and the second he turned it on, two elephants came rushing over for a drink. I must confess, my heart raced as two giantic beasts rushed in the direction of my child. There are so many moments like this while traveling. Whether it’s trusting that an elephant will stop short of trampling our kid, or driving through completely flooded streets, or trying an obscure fruit given to us by a stranger, these experiences encourage trust in people and in situations that are far outside of our previous life experience.
There is nothing quite like watching an elephant bathe in the river. They are so playful, rolling around, spraying fountains of water out of their trunks and even dunking each other under the water.
After they’re all cleaned off from the river, the elephants head straight to the mud pits and cover themselves with dirt to protect their skin from the blazing hot sun.
This is the point at which we really began struggling with the heat. Thailand is hot and humid. Standing in the direct sunlight at high noon had those of us who had just arrived from the far northernern hemisphere feeling pretty miserable.
We found some shade and got a few pictures of a larger pack of elephants. Just as they would in nature, the sanctuary elephants form families of 2+ members.
The visit ended with a bucket bath in the river. I can’t speak for the elephants, but it certainly helped cool off the humans.
Here’s an entertaining clip of an elephant scratching itself on a tree after its bath.
eyeweise 