A journey with the Elephants - written by Marvin

Up early (6.45am) ready to be picked up for the Patara Elephant Sanctuary day at 7.30am.  A 45 minute drive later we were SW of the city in the heart of the jungle.  We arrive down a dirt track at a shelter where there already about 20 people interacting with 2 elephants and their calves.
 
WOW!  Elephants are simply “chilling out”, eating a bit of grass.  The babies are 3 weeks and 3 months old so very cute and fun to play with.  Taking the lead from the others we quickly learn to approach and touch the elephants.  The calves as you’d expect are playful and boisterous.  Lots of great photos and this was just the start. 

Our group of 10 people drove over to an adjacent property where we were taught the art of elephant health.  There are FOUR THINGS TO CHECK:

1.        Happy elephants have flapping ears and tail.
2.        Healthy elephants should sleep lying down on their side for 4-5 hours per nights flipping from side to side every 40 minutes (so you should see dirt and dust on their bodies).
3.       Elephants sweat from the cuticle of their toes if they are healthy – no sweat means they are not healthy.
4.       That they have healthy poo!  It should be moist (give it the squeeze test!), short fibres should be present, not whole unchewed leaves (this shows good healthy teeth), 5-7 stools per motion is good, it must have a healthy smell of cut grass.

 

Next, the commands.  Ma = come, Na-Long = lie down, Deedee = good elephant, Bye = move forward, How = stop.

 

Next task, washing the elephant.  Connor & I were assigned Mat-tun-cum.  She was a 2.5meter mother with a 3 year old baby.  There was a natural dam area about thigh deep where we scrubbed the elephant from head to toe.  Anne & Katie got the only bull elephant assigned to them, he was called Boon Cheng & was approx. 3 metres tall.  Connor did a great job cleaning including seating on her back to get all those tricky places. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following a quick dip in a waterfall, we were taught how to climb up our elephant ready to ride back to home base.   Even when seating on their backs their footfalls are very light, the ultimate 4WD!  Everything is powerful (from trunk to tail), so you must treat her with respect.  Riding bareback for a good 50 minutes proved to be an authentic thai massage for bum and thigh! 

 

A great lunch on the way back, then one of the good things they take lots of photos and handed us a CD at the end.