Elephant Nature Park - North of Chiang Mai

Watching the elephants bathe. The first one is the baby. Sometimes they really seem to enjoy the water, shooting it in th air, rolling around, and practically seeming to drown one another in the process. 

WATER FIGHT!  It's winter here. We actually read in the museum of Chiang Mai that it has a "cold" climate with an average high of 25 C and an average low of 20 C... brrrrr! Because of this, the water is slightly colder than the elephants like, so they don't always get right in, so we get to help them bathe, which keeps their skin healthy. 

"Please Daddy, Please can we take her with us?" 

So in addition to the 42 elephants, 250 cats, and hundreds of water buffalo... the kind folks at Elephant Nature Park look after over 400 dogs. Of course, we decided to visit the dog clinic where we were allowed to hang out with a group of about eight 4 month old puppies which came from a temple. This particular pup seemed to choose us, as she kept cuddling up with us. Now we just have to break the news to Puddy!

In case you were wondering if our trip was all fun, here I am working - trying to convince a blind and elderly elephant to move while at the same time avoid being squished.  Our guide, 'Sunshine' is pulling the elephant while the 'Mahout' is trying to push the backside. Steve actually had to climb over the fence to avoid getting squashed. She is a very playful giant but her life previous to the Elephant Nature Park is tragic.  She worked in an illegal logging camp and became pregnant.  She delivered her baby on the top of a mountain but the baby and birth sac rolled down the mountain and died.  After that she refused to work.  Her owner shot out one eye with a sling shot to motivate her to work.  She continued to refuse to work and he stabbed her other eye.  The Elephant Nature Park heard of her plight and bought her.  Almost every elephant in this park has a tragic story but once they arrive here life is better.  The nickname of this place is elephant heaven.  Because she cannot see she uses her sense of smell and hearing - below she is hoping to be fed by me but I am out of bananas!!!

Here I was playing with the cats and Lek, the founder of the elephant nature park. Lek means small, but she did big things.  We are playing in the elephant feeding area. We are playing with bamboo toys so the cats are having fun. - Emma

Emma and Lek in the "Cat Kingdom".  Lek is a very inspirational woman and her accomplishments are very impressive.  She created the Elephant Nature Park twenty years ago, including various outreach programs. She has also just written legislation which was passed by the Thai government creating regulations on how elephants are cared for in Thailand, the first such legislation in southeast asia.  Because of her acitivsm she has received death threats.  Her husband is from Toronto and is a member of Sea Sheperd, so conservation runs in the family.  Despite how busy she is, she still has time to meet the guests and volunteers, as well as play with the cats.  See the whole story at:

www.elephantnaturepark.org