Elephant Keeper for a Day!!

Oh I was looking forward to breakfast this morning! And it was delicious! We left a little extra time so we could relax before we got picked up at 7:45am to be an elephant keeper for a day!

Ben was our driver and there were two girls from France (one who didn’t speak English) already in the van. We then stopped to pick up someone else and were stopped on the side of the road for literally 20 minutes while Ben was picking up someone. FINALLY this Australian guy showed up. We had no idea what took him so long but they we were off!

It took about 45 minutes to get to the elephant farm and we met up with another couple from England. Ben took some time to explain a little bit about what we were doing during the day although his English was very hard to understand.

We then started walking through the fields to go find our elephants and the scenery was so beautiful! We stopped at a little hut to put on sunscreen, bug spray, etc and we also put on these shirts (the same ones that trainers wore so the elephants would be ok with us) and walked over to meet our elephants. Ben picked me first and matched me up with the only male elephant since apparently he only likes working with females (smart elephant)! However, he didn’t seem very responsive to me, so we waited and Ben showed mom and Lorna to their elephants! Finally, I went back to mine and once he saw the food he was ok with me. It was hard to feed him though because he had massive tusks and he was just whipping them around with no regard to my head!

After we fed them we had to check and make sure they were healthy! First, we had to make sure they were happy. If they were happy, they would be swinging their tails and moving their ears! Next, we had to make sure they had slept by checking their sleeping marks. They sleep on their side for about 30 minutes and then stand up for 10 minutes and sleep again on the other side for about 30 minutes. They only sleep for 4 hours a night! After that, we had to make sure they were getting enough exercise by looking to see if they were sweating under their nails. Last, but NOT least, we had to check their poop! They made us squeeze it (no gloves, I thought that was gross) to make sure they were drinking enough and we had to make sure it didn’t smell foul or have a funny shape or anything.

Thankfully we moved on to cleaning the elephants. The first step was to hit them with a bouquet of leaves (that’s really what it was) to get all the dirt off. The top of their bodies was the hardest since they cover themselves in dirt as sunscreen/fly protection. The dirt would fly all over us and still seemed to stay on the elephant. It was actually really hard work and my arms were SO sore at the end! At that point we were only half way done cleaning our elephant. We then brought them into the river to really wash them! We had buckets and we would throw water on them and then take a brush to really wash them. Ben told us how it was like a massage for them, so I tried to do the best for my elephant since I love massages so much! But this was even HARDER work! We all laughed because sometimes we would throw the water and it wouldn’t even hit the elephant and I think our elephant guides kept yelling at us because we weren’t very good at washing them! Oh well we tried!

We had a small break so our elephant could eat and we could have a snack since our next step was riding our elephant! Lorna went first and the elephant put out its foot so we could kind of step on and then we would hoist ourselves up and over (with the help of the trainers on either side). Mom, I hate to do this to you, but I have HAVE to tell your story! I know she was really nervous about getting on the elephant and LUCKILY we have a video to really show exactly what happened (blackmail..hey Mom I really could use some more money..haha). The first time she tried her pants were tied too tight at the bottom so she fixed that. Then, the elephant lifted its leg too fast so she kind of stepped down. At that point I think Ben stepped in to try and help. The next time she tried, the elephant moved too fast and she kind of fell backwards. It FINALLY worked (sort of) but as she had gotten herself up the elephant dropped its leg and she started sliding down the side of the elephant! We were DYING laughing! She finally did make it up and I was very proud of her!

We took about a 45 minute hike to the waterfall. It was awesome to ride an elephant bareback, but it REALLY worked our legs. We sat right behind its ears and sort of had to squeeze our thighs together to hold on. There was a rope behind us, but it was a bit hard/awkward to hold on to while riding the elephant.

When we got to the waterfall the elephants went for a swim and we got to join them. It was a blast (but kind of scary). The elephants were just hanging out and didn’t seem to mind if we were hanging on them, but they would just roll around and a few times I thought I might get stuck under them and drown! There is another video (sorry mom I can’t help it) of us on an elephant and the thing just throwing us off (I think mom got thrown under water)! We had a lot of fun though!

We then had a picnic lunch in a little bamboo hut overlooking the river (it felt VERY Thai). The food was just ok (it was all common Thai food and then fried chicken) but they also had dragon fruit which is my favorite!

We left lunch and the waterfall and took a trek back through the woods and our elephants amazed us all! The path was SO skinny and steep and the elephants were so surefooted we were astonished! It was really a beautiful hike!

We stopped so our elephants could eat and we learned a little bit more about the history of the elephants in Thailand and about the elephants at this camp. We then got on our elephants again for the LAST ride of the day and got to ride them with our legs hanging over the front of their face! Mom and Lorna chickened out and went back to the other way (I don’t blame them as it was sort of scary) but I tried it out. It felt like there was no support; you were kind of just hanging out on an elephant and hoping he wouldn’t throw you off!

We said goodbye to our elephants and headed back to Chiang Mai. It was only suppose to be a 30 minute drive, but turned into something much longer. First of all, we came back during rush hour and granted Chiang Mai isn’t a HUGE city there was still a lot of people out and about. Second of all (I still have NO clue WHY they do this) but when Ben dropped people off THAT’S when they paid! So people would be rummaging through their backpack (while everyone else was waiting in the car) and then they would need change, etc. so long story short it took us about an hour and a half to get home. I know I was a little grumpy as I was tired, hungry and in need of a shower!

After we had showered off elephant it was about 7:00pm. We were starving and too tired to go anywhere in a taxi. So we headed back to the Sports Bar! It was walkable, we knew they had decent food AND we liked the atmosphere!

After dinner we walked down the street a bit and I got an ice cream and then we all came back so my mom and Lorna could pack (noooo don’t leave me!) and so we could all crash!

Hugs and kisses from our elephants!