Elephantastic

Having lived in Chiang Mai for about three months now, and given the fact that Chiang Mai is known for it's eco-tourism, we decided to spend our day off enjoying one of these attractions. We've had plenty of time to research and we decided on a slightly more expensive, but environmentally and animal friendly elephant park. And it was WELL worth the splurge.

This park houses elephants are rescued from either street begging, logging operations, or other bad situations and given the chance to lead a healthier life. Because the Park is trying to let them live as naturally as possible, we didn't get to ride them or see many tricks, but we did get to feed them and play with them and watch them all day.

Plus, we got to hear some amazing stories about these elephants. Here's one of the most heartbreaking about one of the sweetest elephants in the camp, Jokia. She was working in a logging operation, and was forced to work through everything, even while she was giving birth. Born on the trail, the baby fell down the hill and didn't survive. Jokia refused and refused to work because she was so sad and her owner beat her to keep her working. He beat her so hard that she became blind in both eyes. After working this way for a long time, she was finally rescued by this camp. When she was brought in, another of the elephants immediately recognized that she was blind and sort-of "adopted" Jokia. They are never apart and usually are close enough so that Jokia is always aware of what's going on and looked after by the other one.

Amazing huh? So dry your eyes and get ready for some pictures. We took LOADS. Here are some of the highlights:

a single elephant tooth

They eat a lot, a LOT of food. They have to eat 10 percent of their body weight every day, and given the fact that most of them weigh about a ton, this means they spend 18 hours a day chewing. But what's cool is the park uses all seasonal food grown in the surrounding communities, so they are also supporting the hill tribes and communities in the area. Right now (in case you couldn't tell...) it's banana and pumpkin season.

Learning to feed 'emBaby!

love me some elephants

Tong Dee with Mae Tong Dee, the elephant. Chillin.

giving Jokia a bath
Jokia the sweetheartTwo elephants coming back from sneaking across the river for a snack of long grass.
Like I said... always eating.

can't get enough of the babies

a dirt bath for "Elephant Smile" right after the real bath

The pictures can't even do justice to how cute and spunky this little guy was... here he's chewing on my leg.

Needless to say, we were pretty envious of the people spending the night or the week there, but it was an amazing, amazing day and it made us very appreciative.

The End.