Lauriver's Travels: Baan Chang Elephant Park

One of the quintessential experiences for those visiting Thailand is riding an elephant. Unfortunately, this demand for elephant exposure has led to the creation of many tours and camps which have little regard for the safety, health, and happiness of their elephants. Many camps boast that their elephants can paint pictures, a horrible practice which involves intense "training" for the elephants, often to their detriment. Others require the elephants to carry tourists on a chair on their back, often dropping off one pair of tourists only to pick up another two, many times a day. Too often, these elephants are underfed, under-sheltered, and over-worked, leading to the premature death of these incredible wild animals. While riding an elephant was at the top of our list of experiences in Thailand, we did not want to contribute to their maltreatment. Finally, after much research, we came across Baan Chang Elephant Park, a conservatory with a unique perspective and approach which emphasizes elephant happiness over people.
We signed up for a two day "Elephant Adventure Life Experience" and were picked up from our hotel and taken an hour north, away from the noise and pollution of Chiang Mai, into the highlands of northern Thailand. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by the sight of two dozen elephants milling around, trumpeting, and flapping their gigantic ears. We were obviously excited. Before we could jump on an elephant, however, we needed a crash course in the ways of a mahout. A mahout is, simply, one who rides an elephant. In fact, mahouts are often attached to elephants at a young age and become their human counterpart, training, caring for, and living with their elephant. At Baan Chang elephant park, they try to rotate their mahouts so the elephants do not get too attached to any one mahout, which can result in severe depression if a mahout should become sick, pass away, or resign. Throughout our stay we learned that this was one of many policies unique to the park which attempts to maximize the welfare and happiness of the elephants.
Instructed that part of being a mahout meant getting dirty, we were given uniforms to change into, followed by an outline of what Baan Chang hopes to accomplish. In short their mission is to give the elephants a better life by first focusing on what elephants need to be healthy and happy, and only then bringing in people to appreciate them. Almost all of the animals at the park have been rescued, as in bought, from their previous owners, many of whom cared little for the elephants' welfare and more for the profits they could bring them. Some were rescued from logging camps in which they were forced to drag massive trees through the jungle in abhorrent conditions. Others were used by unscrupulous Thais using the elephants to pull money from tourists on the street. Still others were bought from less ethical camps as mentioned above. Our guide, Nie explained that each elephant has had unique experiences, and thus unique personalities, and we should respect that these animals are neither tame nor domesticated. Nie also emphasized transparency, encouraging us to ask questions, such as why the mahouts carried the thotti, a wooden stick with a nasty looking metal hook on the end (to break up fights among the elephants). We were told of how the elephant population in Thailand had plummeted from 100,000 to less than 3,000 due to such factors as development, poaching, and the the growing view among Thai people that elephants are merely giant pests that destroy crops and trample fences. But mostly, Nie emphatically repeated that their goal was to give each elephant what they needed to be happy: lots, and lots of food (an elephant's stomach only digests 20-40% of the food they eat and so they must eat continually), exercise (in the form of one daily hike, carrying one or two people directly on it's back), and a place to bathe. As mahouts in training we would be responsible for providing our elephants with all three of these important necessities.
Our first duty was to familiarize ourselves with the elephants by feeding them bananas and sugar cane. In doing so, we had the chance to see first-hand the different personalities of the elephants: some preferred bananas, while others liked sugar cane; some would take food from your hands with their trunk, while others wanted you to put it right into their mouths; some liked to be touched, while others shied away.
After feeding, we needed to learn how to communicate with the elephants. We learned how to tell the elephant to bend down so we could mount and dismount (non long!); the command for forward (pai!); to turn (kuai! with a kick to the appropriate side); and, of course, stop (how!). Once we learned these basic commands came the fun part: riding the elephant! With the mahouts looking on we mounted and rode the elephants a short way through the camp. Feeling these powerful animals beneath us was both exhilarating and humbling and gave us a new respect for these amazing creatures. As soon as our group felt comfortable, we were ready for the real test: a journey through the jungle. We were paired off and given our elephant for the day. We would get Nomei, a 20 year old female who happened to be pregnant! She was a sweet creature who didn't let her pregnancy slow her down one bit. Nomei would take us up and down hills, sometimes stopping to grab a branch from a nearby tree, at which point we would have to yell pai! to keep her focused on the trail. For the most part, however, she knew the way better than we did and happily swung her massive trunk side to side, sometimes reaching up to give us an "elephant kiss". Our journey would end in one of the highlights of the whole adventure, a trip to the watering hole where we got the opportunity to bathe with Nomei. We could tell she loved the water for as soon as she drank her fill, she plopped down on her side and allowed us to go to work with our buckets and scrubs. Bath time soon turned into play time, however, as she let us climb all over her and would suck up water with her trunk to give us a shower of our own. We could of easily spent hours in the water with her. Eventually though, the mahouts decided we were all clean enough and we said our goodbyes for the day.
Because we signed up for a two-day adventure, we stayed overnight in the park, a privilege which would prove to be an experience in itself. After all the other tourists went home, we were alone in the park except for another couple, David and Lana, a charming Dutch/Russian pair, Nie, and the mahouts. They cooked us a delicious Thai meal and invited us to sit around the campfire, feeding us Thai moonshine and a delicious dessert of coconut milk and rice cooked in bamboo sticks. They serenaded us with Burmese songs (most of the mahouts are refugees from Burma) well into the night. Exhausted, but supremely happy, we finally retired to our rooms which were situated on a hill overlooking the beautiful countryside with the moon and stars beaming brightly above us.

In our stylish mahout uniforms.

Laura bravely putting the food right into a blind elephant's mouth.

This big boy was a bit intimidating but very friendly if you have sugar cane!

The baby elephant had a thing for Oliver.

But she gave Laura a little hickey too.

A natural.

A great moment, Laura's first time up on an elephant.

Learning how to dismount. Non long!

Nomei saying hello.

The expert way to ride.

Nomei taking us on a hike through the jungle.

Cooling down at the watering hole.

Washing off all the jungle dirt.

Right before Oliver gets hit with a blast of water.

Do we look happy or what?

The following morning we were awoken by the sound of elephant trumpets as they took their morning bath. Sipping tea and enjoying the view, we readied ourselves for the day's activities. While we wouldn't get as much elephant time, we still enjoyed watching them interact with each other and with the new group of mahout recruits who arrived that morning. Our day would focus more on taking in the gorgeous scenery of northern Thailand as we hiked through the jungle to a beautiful, but cold!, waterfall, a ride down the rapids of the Mae Klong river, and ending with a languid float on a raft of bamboo.
One of the best experiences of all our travels, we could not have been more delighted with Baan Chang Elephant Park and were overjoyed to support a park with such an altruistic pursuit: the happiness of Thailand's noble elephants.