The In's and Out's of Elephant Owning

What a day we had!  We (okay, I) entered Monday feeling a bit of trepidation about the day ahead.  What exactly would be expected from an elephant owner for a day?  I had watched a show on the travel channel that showed highlights from the program at Patara Elephant Farm, but not being a nature girl I just wasn't sure if I was cut out for trekking through the Northern Thai mountains on the back of one ton beast.  So, you might be wondering why I signed Daniel and I up for this excursion.  Good question!  I think I was deeply curious about the elephants themselves.  From the photos and video I have seen, these giant creatures appear to have such kind eyes and I have heard that they are quite gentle and intelligent.  I knew this may be one of the only opportunities I might have to ever get this close to an elephant and Patara's mission focuses on caring for and saving these amazing creatures, so I figured it was time to seize the opportunity!  

We were picked up from the hotel around 7:45am and took a 45 minute drive out of the city and into the mountains.  The scenery change was quite drastic in such a short time and really stunning.  The van turned into a dirt road where we met a group of people and had our first glimpse of the elephants.  As quickly as we got out of the van, Daniel and I were told that we were going to a different camp.  Okay, back to the van and off we went another few minutes down the road, then off onto another dirt road, then for a bit of "off-roading" until we met up with another group of significantly younger folks who would be our fellow elephant owners.  We hiked up to our base for the morning where we dropped our bags and had our first up close and personal experience!  A 14 month-old baby was very curious about us and quickly discovered that we had a pile of bananas to offer should she want to be our friend.  Success!  I got to feed a baby elephant it wasn't even 9am!  Lucky for us, this little baby was going to be our tagalong for the day since her mommy was "owned" by one of the folks in our group.

Well "hello" baby elephant!

Nom, nom, nom...good bananas!

"Hey, don't you have more bananas?"

After getting on the baby's good side, it was time to get down to serious business.  We had to befriend the big elephants since we would be taking care of them for the day.  Just as with the baby, our job was to win them over with food.  We had to approach the big guys a bit differently however.  You had to hold the food above your head, say the name of your elephant, walk up to him/her confidently, and hope to God that the elephant was wagging the tail and flapping the ears.  Then, you approached the massive beast, said "bone" to command the elephant to lift up its trunk, and stuck the food (and your hand) directly into its mouth.  No problem.  Guess who got to go first?!  Yeah, that would be me. My elephant was a massive, 8 year old male called Su.  That's right, a boy named Su.  Thankfully, Su was friendly and didn't bite my hand off or toss me aside with his trunk while the entire group stood there and watched me. 

Baskets of elephant food--tamarind, sugar cane, and bananas

Approaching my elephant for the first time...yikes!

"Bone" and up went the trunk...now I have to stick my hand in the mouth to feed Su

Hmmm....

After I won Su over with the first morsels, I fed him an entire basket of bananas, sugar cane, and tamarind.  At the beginning I was a bit too reserved in putting the food far enough into his mouth and my trainer firmly told me many times that I was doing it wrong (duh, the food was dropping on the ground and Su had to pick it up with his trunk--I get it but I also didn't want him to chomp my hand off!!) but after several mishaps I finally figured out that if my hand wasn't getting slobbered on, I wasn't putting that food in there far enough.  I also discovered that the teeth were way in the back of the mouth so the worst case scenario was that my hand would just get crushed, not bitten off.  The trunk and tusks were a whole other obstacle to avoid.  Every time that elephant closed its mouth to chew the trunk came down and boy you had to be on the ball and out of the way!  Okay, we cleared out the basket of fruits and Su was still hungry so I fed him two more huge bunches of bamboo/grass.  Now the fun really began.  Time for a little health check...

Daniel feeding his elephant, Mae bu tong

"Di di", Good girl!

The elephants are still hungry so we haul the grass!

There were four things we needed to check to be sure our elephant was healthy enough to ride.  First, we had to check to be sure that our elephant was happy.  This meant that the ears and tail would flap/wag several times a minute.  Check!  Su was happy.  Next we had to check to be sure that our elephant had gotten enough sleep and that he slept on both sides of his body (not just laying on one side or the other).  We looked for the layer of dirt on his sides, legs, ears, and head.  Did you know elephants only need 4 hours of sleep each night and that they sleep laying down if they are healthy?  They can only sleep about an hour on each side at a time before getting up and changing positions because of the massive amount of body weight that settles in one place.  Next we checked to make sure our elephant was sweating appropriately.  Do you know where they sweat?  Between their toes.  Yep, seriously, you can see the sweat bead up around their toenails.  Finally, we had to check to make sure the elephant was eating and digesting properly.  We watched them eat which just left the poo.  Ew!  We had to squeeze the poo to see if it was moist, check the smell (it should smell like grass), and see if it flaked into small pieces.  

Smells like...

....grass.  Whew!

Everything looked good for Su, but he was looking pretty dirty and I certainly couldn't ride him covered in dirt because it would be bad for his skin so I had to clean him off!  Using a bunch of banana leaves like a feather duster I had to beat the dust and dirt off of him.  To get to his back and head I had to tell him to lie down.  "No long" means lie down. 
Say that while tapping on the back and you can make a giant elephant lay on the ground.  Cool.  I couldn't quite get all of the dirt off of him, so we used the hose.  Su is a pretty smart guy.  As soon as we got to the washing area he decided he was thirsty and grabbed up the hose with his trunk.  He stuck the hose straight into his mouth and drank for 5 minutes!  I was a little worried he was going to revolt and spray water all over me, but luckily he didn't.  Once he was as clean as I could get him, my trainer took over and I went to get changed before we learned how to ride these guys.

Nope, not hurting the elephant.  You guide him by holding his ear.

Daniel dusting off his beast!

Trying to get all the dirt off my elephant was impossible!!

I think it's going to take awhile to get Mae bu tong clean!

Much better...just like washing a car!

Thirsty elephant!

Just like a whiny infant..."don't wash there"!

Getting on the elephant was quite the challenge.  There were three different ways to get up on the big guy--with the elephant laying down, using the leg, and from the front via the trunk.  My elephant was happy to let me use any of the three methods.  My first attempt was with the leg and with a little help from my trainer I was up on Su's head/back in no time.  It felt both magical and strange sitting right up behind the elephant's head as we lumbered about the farm.  My knees were tucked and shins rested on the top of Su's ears so I could tap the back of the ears with my feet to tell him when to go.  One hand reached behind to grab a rope for stability and the other rested on the top of his head.  Okay, let's ride!  

Sure, no problem...just hop up on the leg, grab the ear, and throw a leg over!

Amazingly enough, I got up there!

Daniel got up on his really tall elephant too!

Whoa!  Gotta get your balance up there!

Practicing my commands/riding around the farm.

Look, no hands!

A trekking we will go...and I'm in the lead!

The motion of the elephant is lumbering but very stable.  Once I got used to it I felt quite secure, although as we traversed through some pretty rough terrain I could see over the top of Su's head and often wondered where in the world that big guy was going to step next.  We trekked in a line for about an hour and I was in awe of the beauty of the landscape and my fortune at being able to experience it on the back of my very own elephant.  The ride wasn't without its challenges as Su, being an elephant, was easily distracted by the lush green vegetation and stopped often for a snack.  This meant that I often had to tap the back of his ears with my feet and holler, "Bai, bai Su"..."go, go Su".  My trainer was there to help keep Su on track and sometimes he had to intervene by grabbing a hold of Su's ear and guiding him back on track, but overall I think Su did a great job of responding to my commands to which I would tell him, "Di di", "good boy".  At one point I turned around to see how the rest of the group was doing and I saw Daniel's elephant wandering off the path and the rest of the group leaving him behind.  It appeared that Mae bu tong was hungry and quite determined to stop for a snack.  As I lost sight of them, I called, "Don't leave my brother behind!"  According to Daniel, Mae bu tong was stripping leaves and bamboo stalks off a tree and his trainer was trying his best to help get her back on track but to no avail.  Daniel was essentially stuck in the tree on the back of the elephant and was about ready to bail off the 9 and a half foot tall elephant, but thankfully Mae bu tong decided to rejoin the group!  Whew!

Daniel trekking along...before Mae bu tong decided to stop for a snack!

Me, Su, and our helpful trainer

Our elephant owners trekking towards the waterfall!

Enjoying the ride through the mountainside

Eating a little snack as we trekked.

Oh, Su...always eating!

When we emerged from the trail we entered the road and lumbered alongside cars and motorbikes for some time.  Eventually we dismounted the elephants and walked them to the entrance to the other camp.  Walking a giant beast like Su by holding on to the ear is a bit like walking a wiley dog who pulls at the leash.  At one point I realized that I was better off just allowing Su to trot alongside me without holding onto him at all.  At the entrance to the second camp we mounted the elephants again, this time via the trunk method, and rode them down to a waterfall to give them a little spa treatment.  Their skin needed to be washed properly so into the water we went.

Stopping for a little break.  Su could be stubborn when he saw a green snack on the roadside!

Just a bit of perspective in the difference in size between me and the elephant.

 Watching the elephants in the water was like watching small children playing in a pool.  It was obvious they were having a blast.  When we got in, it was time to get down to the business of getting clean.  My trainer leapt of a rock onto Su's back and eventually I waded in from another direction and hopped up onto his side to scrub him.  We got him back on his feet and lead him to a shallow area where I could scrub his legs, face, head, trunk, and tail before dousing him with water to rinse him off.  Su was looking pretty good!  When everyone had finished with their elephants, we lined them all up and stood in front for a photo.  Little did we know the elephants had a stealthy surprise for us and doused us all with water from behind.  Sneaky little buggers!  

Scrubbing the elephants skin!

We had to make sure they were squeaky clean!

The elephant didn't seem to mind having a facial.

Daniel had a lot of elephant to wash! 

I love my elephant, Su!

Our new friends

Naughty elephants and sneaky elephant trainers!

After drying off and changing it was time for lunch!  There were so many delicious things to eat--Daniel tried everything and I stuck to my sandwich.  

We fed the leftover vegetarian goodies to our elephants afterwards to thank them for such a wonderful day.  When we carried the treats up to feed them, the baby elephant spotted us first and made a beeline for the food!  I had to dash out of the way to get to Su and he was happily waiting for me with his trunk up and mouth open!  I walked Su back to the entrance of the camp and said good-bye before hopping into a car to go visit two of the newest additions to the farm.  

See, kind eyes!

My very sweet, intelligent elephant!

Good-bye Su and trainer!  It's been fun!

Daniel saying good-bye to Mae bu tong

Quick, they're getting away!  Just kidding--they are headed back to the farm for some rest...and more food!

Just down the road, separated from the other camp areas, were the mommies and new babies born earlier this year.  One baby was five months old and quite attached to his mother.  He followed her like a shadow so we weren't able to get too close.  A bit further in was a four month old baby and her mother.  With a bit of coaxing with some bananas we were able to approach both mommy and baby.  The baby was about 130kg and absolutely adorable!  She was just starting to eat smashed bananas and was happy to nibble them from our hand.  Her little trunk couldn't quite grab a hold of anything yet although she tried so hard to pick up the bananas that were dropped on the ground without success.  While we visited she also had bath time in the pond and was very excited to splash around under her mother's feet.

Mommy and 5 month old baby

4 month old baby elephant--so cute!

For a little size comparison

Daniel and I trying to sneak a photo with the wiley little baby elephant and not get eaten by the mommy

Bath time! 

Those rocks were slippery!

Splishing and splashing!

Before heading back to our hotel we stopped to pick up our DVD of photos and videos from the day--a souvenir to remember our day spent with the elephants...a once in a lifetime experience to be sure!  We returned to the hotel tired and dirty, but very happy that we had the opportunity to visit Patara Elephant Farm and take part in the elephant owner for a day program!