My Dream Experience

I had been looking forward to this day for at least a year, when we started looking at experiences along our chosen route! We had an early morning pick-up for the tuk-tuk trip to the elephant sanctuary. We seemed to be the only guests for this morning visit since no others were picked up from nearby hotels. An hour and a half drive into the jungle-covered mountains and through hamlets of a few huts brought us to the sanctuary camp. We crossed the small stream on a rickety bamboo and cable footbridge, took a right turn at a small, local wat, and walked about a half a kilometer to the small discovery and rehabilitation center. We were given tunics to wear over our clothes, as protection for both us and the elephants, before we met our first pachyderm BFF’s (Best Friends Forever.) 

This rehab rescue camp was home to four elephants, Forrest Gump, the baby male, Lady Gaga, his mother, and 2 other females Bon Jovi and Viva. We got acquainted with the elephants in their bamboo corral before we helped to mix their ‘medicine’ of food supplements. The ingredients were all natural and included ginger, tamarind, lemon grass, salt, brown rice, bananas, roots, and herbs to promote healthy digestion. These elephants had been rescued from a circus, a logging work camp, and other environments, where the mahouts, at best, took poor care of their health and feeding or, at worst, physically abused them. Elephant riding is broadly discouraged by rescue and rehabilitation groups as the top of back rigs, houdahs, are very harmful to their backs and cause sores or infections from constant chafing. The riders are best seated singly or in pairs behind the head. 

We mixed the medicine ingredients using a large mortar and pestle apparatus which was operated by a foot lever to raise the pestle at the other end of a seesaw arm, dropping it, and crushing the ingredients in a wooden mortar bowl. We formed the mixture into balls which we then fed to the elephants. The mahouts explained how the combination of fiber, minerals, and vitamins contribute to a healthy digestive tract. You may wonder, “How do they know the whether an elephant is healthy or not?” A healthy elephant will excrete (poop) 6 or 7 fibrously textured balls several times a day.This was definitely a case of TMI (Too Much Information) but Don took it to heart, counted, and reported the movements throughout our experience time

They all liked the treats (SH! Medicine.)

We also fed their normal diet of corn stalks and more local bananas. We had made friends for life, I think. Forest Gump was about six months old and kept trying to squeeze between the bamboo rails to get out of the enclosure. We received trunk hugs to show their appreciation. 

After the animals were fed, we were fed a generous serving of Thai sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf pouch with chicken rice and a plate of fresh fruit which we greatly appreciated since we had left before eating breakfast. When we finished eating, we accompanied the elephants down to the river bank for their baths and cooling soaks. We joined them and their mahouts in the water. We enjoyed this and helped splash water onto their backs and the tops of their heads. Don started to “accidentally” miss the elephants and proceeded to splash me. As they prepared to return to the compound for the next visitors, they sprayed us to return our favor by cooling us in the midday heat.