Elephant Nature Park P1

I have found heaven, and it is not in some other dimension or whatever. It is located on a large property outside the city of Chiang Mai right here in Thailand and it is called the Elephant Nature Park. I will never forget my time there. Have you ever stepped into the gates of a place and known right away that every single thing there is RIGHT? Just... right? I never have. Not until yesterday morning. As soon as I stepped off that mini bus I knew I had found a place where I belonged like no where else I have ever felt I belonged. I met the most amazing people, and even tho we sometimes had trouble speaking with each other (they were mainly hill tribes), we got along like a house on fire. There were loads of vol's from all over the world, most speaking English so I made heaps of new friends. Each and every one of the elephants found here (barr the babies that were born there last year) has a sad tale. Some are not so bad as others (elephants and keepers fallen on extremely hard times and forced into doing things they don't want to until BOTH were saved by the park), some are so horrific that I want to track down the people who did these acts and beat them into bloody pulps. Yes, I know, not very Buddhist of me but sometimes you have a right to be FURIOUS. Girls, I bonded to an elephant. I know. I KNOW! WTF, you say? I kid you not. We were able to walk amoung the little herds and made friends with them. You can go right up and love on them all you want, as long as you follow the directions of the kwan/mahouts and use your common sense. All have scars and other signs of physical abuse. One of the worst is Mae Do. Her story is distressing as hell. I won't put it here in case it upsets you, but you can read it here:
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/herd/medo.htm
Be aware it's distressing.
Her injuries are horrific but OMG she is sooooo beautiful. She has the most beautiful face you have ever seen on an elephant (well I think she does anyway!), and her spirit just shines. She's also very, very gentle, and loved me :) I went up to give her love and she full on leaned into me. She started up this deep belly rumble and closed her eyes. Her kwan was a little shocked! I gave her more love, the more I gave her and the more I love-talked her, the more she responded. Apparently, according to our guide, she is not normally that demonstrative apart from to her kwan! So, she LIKED me! I loved her to pieces, quite frankly. I intend to start sponsoring her as soon as I am home.She is the biggest love, in every sense of the word.
I'll pop the photos up in 2 lots as there was a bit. There is also video but that will have to wait til I am home and can install a software to splice it all together as there's too much in segments. If you want to know what I got up to, let me know and I'll post. Never quite sure what y'all will be interested in :D



( a whole lot more under here )

MAE DO (medo)

JUST VERY QUICKLY: I AM NOW MAE DO'S OFFICIAL SPONSOR!!!
You can help the park by donating to the feed and medical funds, which is very cheap and makes a real difference. Or you can go all out and sponsor an elephant for a year which help feed, maintain and medicate them. It also contributes to the rescue fund which helps save other ellies. thought oh what the heck, I love Mae Do, I love the park, I love the people there. I want to contribute. IO mean, I did spend money to go there and also in the gift shop, but I wanted to do MORE. This is my way. Now I have a link back to this place.
I think from now on if anyone wants to give me a gift for whatever reason, birthday/Xmas/whatever, I will be asking them to donate to the ENP in my name. I don't need STUFF. And that place made me feel... I'm not sure there is a word or phrase to describe it.

Elephant Nature Park P2

We spent the night in a funky little hut, just Marion and I as Craig was back in Chiang Mai; he had awoken the morning we left with a terrible migraine so hadn't come. We both missed him. The hut was just a small thing, no air con, two beds with mosquito netting and a sep room with a toilet and COLD WATER ONLY shower. Which was just fine - you don't actually need the hot water there :D It was right on the banks of the river, so I fell asleep to the sounds of insects, bats and the river tripping along on the shallows. No traffic sounds at all. Sheer freakin' heaven. God I loved it there...
Anyway, next morning we had a glorious breakfast. They feed you like royalty there. At breakfast, lunch and dinner we gathered at the complex and could serve ourselves from a huge selection of yummies. Apart from one dish with chook and one with fish, everything was veggie and BEAUTIFUL! I have discovered Dragon Fruit and I LOVE it. Ate sooooooo much!
We got to have a walk around with our guide Por, out in the actual grounds. Had to wear gumboots. It was awesome walking around amoung the elephants. Most are very happy to come up and have a cuddle with you :) I got to cuddle Mae Do. Unfort I slipped and fell onto my knees twice from getting my foot caught in the ropey grass. The first scared me because it's actually the first time I have fallen onto the bad knee since I killed it. Yeah it hurt, but not so bad. 2nd one was alright. But it did bruise up and jarred itself so I was happy to just hang out once we got back to the main complex.
Best thing was when I ran into Lek! Lek is the founder of the Park. She is a very small woman, a grand-daughter of a shaman of a local Northern Hill Tribe. Her family was given an elephant when she was 5 as payment for saving a mans life, and Lek's heart was stolen forever. She took her passion for elephant welfare forward and started Elephant Heaven. She rescued her first 4 elephants. Things grew, one day an American come on a tour, a week or so after he left they received a MASSIVE cheque. Turns out he's a multi millionaire and was so impressed with the work that he wanted to buy them land. With that money they purchased ENP. Things have just kept growing since then. They still have Heaven, they walk the ellies there to let them roam free and learn to be wild again. The dream is to one day stop the capture of wild elephants so they can release them. Logging was banned in Thailand a few years ago but not in the surrounding countries. And illegal logging continues. Plus the begging trade and tracking. Begging is BAD. It's extremely stressful for the elephants. NEVER feed a begger elephants. You are just contributing to the problem. Tracking is not bad as long as the elephants are kept in humane conditions. There are also NO laws protecting elephants. Lek is working to change all that. She employs local people from the hill tribes as guides, staff, cooks, kwan's, she buys the locally grown and produced veggies and fruit, plus meat, eggs, milk etc. She hires local labor for building etc. It all comes back to paying it forward. As a result, the local community loves and supports her work. She was ultra busy but she made the effort to track me down when she heard I wanted to meet her, so that we could have a chat and a photo. She called the baby herd over and took me in among them (not normally allowed) so that I could get a shot to remember.
She is quite frankly my hero. It's people like this who are true heroes, not stupid sports stars or actors or whatever. I didn't want to leave. I so didn't want to leave. I will be back.
They also had a little brown colt pony who they rescued from slaughter. I couldn't get any photos of the little devil as he was in grass/reeds higher than his head when we near him.


BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABIIIIIIEEEEEEEES!!!!

( photos under here )

I will be back as soon as I can. Honestly, if you are strapped for cash but want a holiday, I can not recommend this place enough. No, you won't be lounging on a beach somewhere; you will be working HARD. You won't have air con, you'll have the heat and humidity of the jungle and you will sweat so much that after two days your skin will look like you've had a VERY exxy treatment and radiate health and a killer bitchin' tan. You won't get polite, distant staff who keep their eyes down and wear impeccable uniforms, you will get hill tribe men and women in gumboots and jeans with a lighting fast smile that reaches their eyes, they will teach you Thai, joke around with you, feed you like you have NEVER been fed before in your life (not fine dining but OMG SO SO SO GOOD!!!!!! And plentiful), chat with you for hours, and make you feel welcome like no tourist resort EVER would. You'll wear gumboots, slosh around in warm mud, touch and hug and kiss and scratch the largest land animals who will rumble like big kittens if you connect with them. You'll learn to tell an elephants age through their scat! You'll find these awesome fern like plants that curl up when you gently run your finger over them. And if you are anything like me, you'll wish you could throw it all in to live there forever, no matter how hard and dirty it gets because, well, it's simply the most wonderful place ever created by human hands.

YEEEEEEHAAAAA ON A SKOOTAH!

On the back with Craig this afternoon, so much fun I almost wet myself laughing :D