Many of the things we want to experience on this adventure include spending time with some of the incredible animals on this planet. Of course, the dilemma of finding the "right" place always ways heavily. We decided on The Elephant Village because they rescue elephants from the logging industry, give them care in their hospitals with certified vets and give them a better life than they would have led. Yes, they still carry tourists around and are not living free and wild in the jungle, but they are cared for, loved by all and never denied food. They bathe in the river twice a day and return to the jungle after a 6 hour work day. Some of the elephants here have stepped on landmines, or have deep scarring from being abused and overworked in the forestry industry. Returning to the wild would not have been an option for these elephants. The income from tourists helps to support them and save other injured elephants in need of rescue.
Our one day mahout experience began with an elephant ride. This was my least favorite experience of the day because they carry us in a seat on their back, but as one traveller pointed out - it's no different than what we do to horses. The rest of the day was great, though. We sat down and learned a lot about elephants in Laos and how the original name for the country, Prathat Lane Xane, meant it was the land of a million elephants. Today there are only about 700 wild elephants left in the country and about 500 domesticated. Our group of 8 asked a tonne of questions and then they 'trained" us to be a mahout. Next thing you know, we were climbing up on our elephants neck, (not as easy as you'd imagine, by the way), and try to give instructions on where to go. Jamie's elephant just kept heading for the food. Luckily, each elephants real mahout stayed with us and steered us into the clear at the last minute.
Click below for more info and to meet the elephants up close!
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| Elephant hospital on site |
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| This lady LOVES her pineapple leaves! |
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| What do you think Kim? Meet my new friend. |
8 months ago, Maximus was born. We visited him and his mother in their pen, which we were told was necessary for their own safety and because he'd wander off quickly. Maxi, as he's better known, will be bred in the future to help increase the elephant population. We fed them both bananas, which they LOVE. Maxi would use his trunk to search for more food and it was so funny to watch his inquisitive trunk leaving a muddy wet stain on everyone if they got too close.
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| Maxi loves bananas, but ones with no peel. |
Soon after we left the Maxi and his Mom, our guide tells us he thinks he hears an elephant crashing through the woods...well, we turn around and see Maxi and his Mom running towards us! It was absolutely hilarious and shocking at the same time. I couldn't get the camera out until they had just passed us, but our group ran after them and were rewarded with watching them bathe in the river. Jamie even got a little more than what he bargained for, so check out the video to see what happened. Maxi and his mahout played with each other like a dog and his owner would and boy can Maxi ever hold his breath under water!
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| Getting ready for bath time. |
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| Loving the water. |
At the end of the day, we brought our elephants down to the river and bathed them. We rubbed and scrubbed them, splashed water on them and were splashed back in reward. One of the things we really liked to see was the relationship between the mahouts and their elephants. They would sing, whistle and joke around with them and with us. It was a great experience.
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| Scrub a dub and rub for bath time. |
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| More mahout training :-) |
We ended the day with a visit to the Tad Sae waterfalls where Jamie cannon-balled into the cold water and we walked along the clear pools. The water was low, so it was easy to walk everywhere. Laos has had some of the most beautiful landscapes, caves, mountain villages, cliffs and jungles that we've seen so far.
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| Tad Sae waterfalls |
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| Clear pools and waterfalls |
The day after this, we hopped on a slow boat headed north. I'll fill you in on the next blog...coming soon!
