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thailand is famous for its elephants; elephants are a center of national identity (a white elephant was on the thai flag until the late 1910s) and a main draw for tourists. we chose to go to thailand because that was the lonely planet available at the bookstore and because we wanted to see the elephants. we see elephants in africa, but from a distance. asian elephants, on the other hand, play music and paint pictures, take riders on treks, fell trees, wander city streets…they are so different than their african brothers. so to thailand we went with all good elephant intentions.

i happened to pick up a brochure for the elephant nature park at the reception of smile house in chiang mai. we didn’t know what we were doing the next day and i thought it looked like a good option. i called them asking if we could visit their park tomorrow. they said sure, i said yes, phil said no. the positive: elephants. the negative: tour group. our plan was to do an elephant trek in khao sok national park later in the week, so we’d get elephants then minus all the canned badness of a large tour group. i agreed with phil, said no and hung up the phone. then i dwelled on it. i looked at the brochure with pictures of a small woman cuddling a baby elephant and a slew of people and elephants playing in a river. i couldn’t give it up just yet; the pictures looked exactly like us. i told phil we’re doing this, he said okay, i called them back and we were scheduled for tomorrow. score one for paige’s inability to overcome possible regret.

there is an ugly side to thailand’s elephants of which most tourists are unaware (of which we were unaware). when thailand banned logging in the late 1980s thousands of elephants found themselves unemployed. many of the elephants and their mahouts (handlers) made their way to bangkok and other major thai cities to survive as beggars. the typical begging scheme is a tourist pays the mahout small money for a banana from his bunch to feed the elephant. the tourist gets the snapshot and the mahout gets the money…the elephant usually doesn’t get much but the measly banana which is basically like a human eating one peanut. those elephants not begging in bangkok are at tourist camps around the country as trekking animals. the gig is to climb up into a carrying basket on the elephant’s back and trek through the forest or mountains or rivers. i have to admit it seems pretty cool, but as i quickly learned at the elephant nature park there’s darkness behind the alluring tourist attraction.

elephants are wild animals, but in thailand (as in much of asia) elephants have been domesticated for a long time. thais have relied on elephants for centuries – elephants delivered soldiers into battle, cleared forests for agriculture, transported people here and there. but, the traditional method of domestication (the phajaan) is heartbreaking and inhumane. young elephants suffer days of spirit-breaking torture before they are considered “domesticated.” to read a description pf the phajaan and see pictures, go here (warning: not for the fainthearted).

we trust lonely planet for all of our travel needs, but for the first time a lonely planet let me down with a misleading statement. in a highlighted section, lonely planet thailand describes how the elephants found a home as trekking animals at tourist camps after logging was banned. it suggests that if you want to support elephants in thailand, you should trek. that is an accurate statement to the extent that trekking keeps the elephants off the streets in bangkok, but is inaccurate to the extent that trekking is a good alternative for wayward elephants. on the contrary, the elephants can be overworked (day/night rotations are not uncommon), mistreated, misunderstood (not enough food, space, social attention) besides the fact that elephants are not designed to carry loads on their backs. i am not saying that if you’ve gone elephant trekking, you are bad. but, i am saying that elephant trekking is not the panacea for the elephants it’s cracked up to be. and, maybe you should consider another way of interacting with the elephants…like going to the elephant nature park north of chiang mai.

the elephant nature park is a unique sanctuary for thai elephants. elephants at the park do not have to work, can have friends (a social life is very important to an elephant), and are free to roam wherever they please in the park’s large expanse. of the 30+ elephants at the park, most arrived at the park malnourished, abused, or injured. in addition to being a place for recovery and recuperation, the park is also a site for developing an alternative method for domestication and training of elephants. the park employs one mahout per elephant (as is standard in thailand) and advocates a typical command/reward type training program. you know, you tell your dog to sit, he gets a biscuit. this alternative training builds trust and a relationship between the mahout and the elephant rather than submission and fear like in the phajaan. it’s a long uphill battle the park has to face since the phajaan is ingrained in thai culture and tradition, but i think its a fight well worth fighting. and i’m happy to have contributed to that fight by going to the elephant nature park.

our day at the park had nothing to do with a large tour group as we’d feared. the group was us, a school teacher from australia, a mother/grandmother pair with their 4 prissy school-aged girls, and a family of 5 with 3 young teenage daughters from australia on a once-in-a-lifetime trip thru asia and europe ending with the start of the tour de france. i got a kick out of the aussie girls and we totally bonded over our equal giddiness of playing with the elephants.

the day starts in chiang mai with a trip to the market to pick up the day’s food for the elephants – truckloads of cucumbers, bananas, watermelons. then it’s a 1.5 hour drive to the park which is north of chiang mai set in an idyllic green valley with mountains on either side and a lazy river cutting thru the middle. elephant heaven on earth. once at the park, the staff educates you on elephant behavior and their role, history, and treatment in thailand while you get to watch the elephants up close. you’re on a platform that meets about trunk-level with the elephants – they walk right up to you, nose around with their trunks, wake up the sleeping dogs (you’re not supposed to do that, you know), play soccer with their mahouts, socialize with each other. then, the main events of the day: feeding and bathing the elephants.

lunchtime: each elephant gets its bushel of cucumbers, bananas, and watermelons and each person gets to hand-feed an elephant. phil and i tag-teamed with two elephants, one who ate really fast and one who ate super slow. the trick is to put enough into their trunks so they have plenty to chomp on while you get the next bunch ready remembering that a bunch of bananas is a pretty small bite to an elephant, so you gotta go fast. also, elephants are picky about what they eat first. if an elephant doesn’t like cucumbers, for example, she won’t eat any until all the watermelon (her favorite food) is gone. she’ll just take the cucumbers and throw them on the ground. oh, and their trunks are super powerful. they wrap their trunks around the food and, if you’re not careful, your hand too. one elephant knocked me in the head with her trunk while trying to get to a watermelon. about knocked me on my butt and gave me a dull headache for the rest of the day.

bath time: twice a day the elephants go down to the river for a bath. i think it’s their favorite time of the day, just like the humans. everyone gets in the river – elephants and humans – for bath time. never thought i’d scrub down an elephant, but that’s just what i did. armed with a bucket and a utility brush i washed…elephants. the adult elephants, happy as can be lying on their sides having their backs scrubbed, watch while the babies play, play, play. i scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed chasing after elephants left unwashed so i could scrub some more. did you know i wanted to be a wildlife veterinarian once? yep, i was in high heaven in that river with the ephelants. phil took photos. happy elephants, happy paige, happy phil.

the elephant nature park is a very special place. elephants in thailand don’t have to be about trekking, music-playing, or begging in the cities. they can be real. our day there was perfect and i’d love to have more. the park has opportunities for volunteers (short- and long-term) and a future opening for a volunteer, volunteer coordinator. sounds like a perfect job for me in a few years, huh?