We love going places. Even after we’ve arrived in a new place, before long, we’re thinking about going to another new place! We haven’t been in China a year yet but when we had vacation from school, we were very excited to hop on a plane and see Thailand. We’ve tried to take pictures to remember the cool things we’ve done along the way and even without pictures, we will always remember the elephants in Thailand.
Kim was adamant that we visit elephants while we were in Thailand and she was passionate about picking a venue that treated them ethically and with love. There are many places where you can see, feed, pet, and even ride an elephant. Unfortunately, we learned that although elephants are massive, they are not meant to carry us on their backs. The chairs alone are too heavy for their skeletal system, even before a hefty Westerner crawls up there. We also learned that some parks’ employees “handle” the elephants with hooks and sticks to keep them disciplined. As adamant as Aubrie and I were to go dancing and play at the beach (respectively,) Kim persevered and booked us a half-day visit to one of the best elephant parks in Phuket, Green Elephant Sanctuary Park. While there, we were going to feed, mud-scrub and wash elephants. It sounded like an experience we would never forget.
Door-to-park service
The park’s shuttle promptly picked us up at 7:15 AM right outside our hotel and dropped us off at the sanctuary at 8 AM. Multiple vans had unloaded. There were about 100 tourists who were broken up into manageable groups of 20-25. Our guides talked about the park’s social media and I’ll share that at the end. We learned that park employees would take pictures of us throughout our visit and then upload them onto their Facebook page. We could access them for free. What a relief it was to not worry about a camera while we were waist-deep in muddy water!
They’re a big deal
First we fed the elephants, who patiently waited for us under small trees nearby. Their handlers, or mahouts, stood close to keep the peace while we held out bananas but they didn’t have to do much. The elephants gently grabbed the fruit and tossed it into their mouths with their trunks. We met several elephants, all female, mostly rescued from the tourism industry. Our favorite girl, who we modeled our newest tattoo after, was ridden by tourists before she came to live here. I had never really thought about how much of a burden a human is on the back of a mighty elephant.
We met an older, less friendly girl who had worked in the logging industry. We couldn’t approach her as freely or closely as the others because she was a little wild. To make her move timber, her handlers had hit her in the head with axes and clubs until she would do as they asked. I wanted to give her the best bananas I could find.
We also met a new momma and baby. They were kept in a paddock by themselves and we could not touch the baby. He was only a few months old and had no teeth, so we couldn’t feed him. As if we could get close enough to feed him anyway, with momma’s watchful eye. Also, because he’s a youngster, he’s not sleeping regularly so neither is his mother. I had no desire to get close to a 2 ton protective and sleep-deprived mother. Some days I’m afraid to get close to Kim if she’s had a rough night’s sleep!
Elephant spa time
Much like Kim and Aubrie’s favorite spa here in Shenzhen, the park gives the elephants a snack and then special treatment. When banana time ended, we all shuffled over to the mud pit to slather on some cooling (and exfoliating?) mud. We carefully walked out into shallow, brown water, sinking up to our ankles and lower calves in some spots. We had the freedom to pick an elephant and slather mud on her. It was impossible to get it on them without getting it on ourselves in the process. Some elephants enjoyed it so much, they splashed the muddy water with their trunks, sending torrents of mud and sludge in the air. We couldn’t help but giggle.
The mud helped cool these gentle giants off from the hot Thai sun. When the mud started to dry, we pulled ourselves out of the pit and slogged over to the freshwater pool. The park gave us children’s sand pails to help rinse the elephants’ backs. Some elephants didn’t need our meager buckets; they plodded into the water and promptly rolled over in the water near their mahouts. They reminded me of dogs. Really large dogs.
Time to hit the showers!
After the freshwater rinse, we headed to the XXL “adventure shower.” The name alone sounded exciting, as if maybe I would need to be seat belted in after signing a waiver. It ended up being a huge rectangular PVC shower area, but it literally took my breath away, especially when I accidentally stood directly under a shower head. We all stood together in the shower; elephants basking in the cool water cascading on them while we humans walked around with car wash-style brushes to scrub off any remaining mud or rocks.
And then the humans get a snack too
After the elephants were fed and clean, we changed out of our wet clothes and sat down to an amazing Thai buffet of spring rolls, fried chicken, glass noodles and lettuce rice and curry chicken. We feasted on fresh watermelon and pineapple for dessert and reflected on the things we learned during our visit to the park:
- elephants eat about 16 hours each day, consuming 200-250 kg (440-550 lbs) of fruits and grasses and 50-100 kg (110-220 lbs) of water.
- elephants only sleep from midnight – 5 AM. If you see an elephant asleep during the day, it’s probably sick.
- Green Elephant Sanctuary was created by an unnamed Swiss man, using his personal finances and donations from others. The park still operates on a combination of his and others’ finances.
For further information…
Please visit the Green Elephant Sanctuary’s website for more information at www.green-elephantsanctuarypark.com. If you feel led to donate or have specific questions for the staff you can email them too at office@green-elephantsanctuarypark.com. They’re on Facebook and if you’re patient, you can scroll through their profile and maybe find more pictures of us! We were there on January 30, 2019.