Elephant Nature Park

After visiting the Elephant Nature Park north of Chiang Mai, I feel so terrible that I ever paid to ride an elephant when we were in Thailand in August. The Elephant Nature Park's aim is to provide a sanctuary and rescue centre for elephants. You can check out their site here, http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm

Lek started the Elephant Nature Park in 1996. She is an amazing women and this is her story.

Sangduen Chailert (Lek) was born into a remote mountain community in Northern Thailand in the 1960's. Her maternal grandfather was a tribal man of the forest and Lek's jungle forays with him led to an early and organic understanding of the wonders of nature. Against the backdrop of poverty she obtained a university education - something practically unique considering her circumstances.

Despite extreme financial difficulties she succeeded in founding Elephant Nature Park along with her husband Adam in 1996.

The park is close to her home village and has been supported by their family tour business which operates educational and environmental trips as well as a travel website. Her life-quest is to provide a sanctuary for elephants to live in a peaceful natural environment. This love of the elephant began as a youngster. The family cared for an elephant which became a close companion of Lek's. This affection led to working with elephants in the forests. With a vet they provided medical care to sick elephants in remote areas. Travel to these areas is hazardous and often involves hours of walking narrow jungle paths inaccessible to vehicles. She is often away for days at a time. The park's current herd includes disabled, orphans, blind and rescued, elephants of all ages.

The Elephants under her care came mainly from private owners and she has had to negotiate fees to enable them to join her herd. Some outlived their usefulness to loggers while others became useless to trekking camp owners. Leks work takes her deep into the jungles of Northern Thailand where, with the help of medical staff, she treats tribal villagers and their families with medical care and, often, donated clothing. Her Jumbo Express programme provides much needed care to elephants in the jungles in Chiang Mai province and beyond.

Protection of the forests is another of her many hobbies and she had initiated a programme of saving individual trees using local Buddhist beliefs and sacred saffron cloth to tie around each tree. Locals are reluctant to cut down these trees fearing insults to jungle spirits.

Her programmes are focused around local culture, common sense and a deep conviction in the preservation of her home area. Sustainability is the key-term to describe her efforts. Elephant volunteers from around the world assist her in a unique programme involving learning, physical help and education.

Lek's efforts have been recognised worldwide and numerous stories have appeared on TV and print media including National Geographic and the Smithsonian Society. Awards include Guest of Honour - 2003 US Humane Society, 2005 Time Magazine 'Asian Hero of the year', 2006 Earth Day Award, Honourary PhD (Veterinarian Science) awarded by HM Crown Prince of Thailand

Currently 30 elephants are under her care and the park has had seven births since 1996. Anyone witnessing Lek with elephants will see a loving bond, closeness and a special understanding. Her commitment and extensive field work make her projects unique.

It really was amazing to watch Lek with the elephants, you can really tell the love she has for them. This is a baby girl elephant that thinks Lek is her daughter, she wants to protect her by keep Lek underneath her. She would chase her around trying to use her trunk to get her to go under her. She has a special relationship with these elephants and even said she sings them to bed at night.

This is a really sad but neat story. Jokia is a blind elephant, the one on the right side. Her friend Mae Perm on the left acts as her eyes as she leads Jokia around the park and forests. It is a wonderful sight for those of us lucky to witness it and Jokia's beautiful demeanour is a lesson to us all in dealing with the hard lessons of life. You can read Jokia's story here about the reason she is blind. http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/herd/jokia.htm

Ready to eat! During our visit we were able to hand feed the elephants watermelon and pumpkin.

Bath time!

We also got a chance to help wash the elephants in the river. As soon as the exit the river they head straight for a pit of mud to roll around it. The mud and dust acts as a sun screen for them and helps keep them cool.

It is true, they are such gentle giants! I wanted to take one home!

This elephant had so much love to give! Kisses for Chrissy!

Lots of kisses to go around. This was my second kiss so I was a bit more scared. It was a weird feeling and smelt really bad.

This elephants story breaks my heart, her name is Trilly. You can see that her back right leg is not right. She has a broken back that will take about 7 years to heal. It is so painful to watch her walk. They said they give her pain medicine when we starts to cry! Poor baby! She was over worked and forced to mate with overweight males that caused her back injures. Usually an elephant has 2-3 babies but she had many more.

I think we all left that day feeling a bit different about elephants. They are such precious creatures and it is too bad a lot of them are treated the way they are. We watched a horrible educational video on the traditional ways on breaking an elephants spirt in order for it to obey its owner. It was just awful and to see an elephant cry even on TV is just heart breaking! I hope that someday they will find another way to train elephants!