We woke up early on Tuesday morning to drive to Karen Tribe Elephant Sanctuary for my sister Eve’s birthday. I woke up, and walked into the kitchen to have some breakfast. For breakfast I had three banana muffins. After that, I got dressed, and brushed my teeth. We were soon ready to go. I put on my sandals, and we walked out the door of our apartment. We got in the elevator, and went down to the first floor. The driver of the car to take us to the Elephant Sanctuary was waiting for us outside. We hopped in the car, and started our two hour drive.

The road was very hilly and bumpy. I don’t think we went two hundred meters without turning. About thirty minutes into the drive Eve and I started to feel carsick. After what felt like hours, the driver pulled over, and said it was time for a rest stop, and that we only had forty-five minutes to go. My mom, dad, and sister went to use the bathroom, along with the driver. I stayed at the car, and made friends with a dog. I sat down next to the dog, and waited for them to return.

 

Getting Sick

When they all got back from the bathroom, I got up, said bye to the dog, and jumped back in the car. Only a few minutes into the drive, Eve asked us to pull over. She opened the door, and threw up out the side of the car. My mom got out with her, and she was sick again. Eve took a drink of water, and said she felt much better. We continued our drive, and the driver told us there was only twenty one minutes left now.

We drove through a small village in the mountains. We learned that the Karen Tribe village is pretty remote. It doesn’t have a hospital or a school. The kids have to travel to (and live in) a different village during the week for education.

 

Meeting Our New Elephant Friends

We stopped at a small building just outside the village and there were seven or eight elephants nearby. We got out of the car, stomachs still feeling a little sick, and walked over to the men at the building. There was a baby elephant who was running around. He ran up to us, and one of the men handed me a banana. The baby elephant’s trunk stretched out towards my hand, and I put the banana on it. He moved his trunk near his mouth, and put the banana in. The man told us his name was David and he was one year old. He was small compared to the other massive elephants, but was still almost as tall, and much heavier than me!

The next Elephant we met was David’s mother. She was really big. We walked towards her, and one of the men told us to say good morning to her. I walked up and said “good morning”, then patted her on the leg. My dad asked how long elephants live, and the trainer said that they can live up to one hundred years old! She was so tall, I could only reach her legs and trunk. After a few minutes with her, we went over to another female elephant. We walked up, said “good morning”, and started patting her leg.

 

Soon after that, we walked over to the only elephant with tusks. He was eating some grass that was as long as my entire arm! We said “good morning”, then the man told Eve to stand next to him for a picture. Eve stood next to the elephant, and he wrapped his trunk around her in a hug! We all got hugs from the elephant, and then went to meet the others in another section of land a little farther away.

 

After we had met all the elephants, we noticed that a few more people had arrived. One of the men told us to come to the building, and he started to tell us what we were going to do that day. He then went farther back into the building, and got some traditional clothes from their Tribe. We all got a sort of v-neck shirt with a v on the front and back. There was no putting it on backwards, because it was the same on both sides. The shirts were woven by the ladies of the tribe. We then were assigned an elephant, and given a basket of bananas and sugar cane each.

 

 

There were two people to an elephant. Me and my mom got a female elephant named Mekepa (not sure if that’s how to spell it). Eve and my dad got the only one with tusks, which I found funny because the smallest person got the big one with tusks. We went over to our elephants, and me and my mom started feeding the elephant the food. We were told to say the word “bon” to the elephants. We tried it, and the elephant opened her mouth. I set the sugar cane on her tongue, and she ate it.

After we were finished feeding her the food, her trainer brought us some of the long grass. We each got to chop some up with a knife. It took a lot more effort than I was expecting to chop through the grass. We chopped up all the grass, and put it in a pile for our elephant to eat. Then the trainer told us to go back to the building and wait for what was next.

 

 

The Morning Health Check

Next, one of the trainers demonstrated how to do a proper health check on the elephants. He told us that since elephants don’t have tear ducts, that tears run down their face all the time. If the tear lines are about the same length around both eyes, that is a good sign. Another thing was if their ears were flapping, and tails swinging back and forth, that’s also good because it means the elephants are happy. It’s also good if the elephants are sweating, and we learned that elephants only sweat in one place. Around their toenails! How strange! After that, it was time for the last check. They said it was tradition for the youngest person to do this one. He pointed at me, and I quickly pointed at Eve. Eve went up to the front, and the man said to go count how many pieces of poop the elephant had dropped earlier… and to bring one back. Eve walked away with one of the trainers, thinking he was joking, but after a couple of minutes she then returned with a massive ball of brown in her hand.

 

The trainer asked how many balls of “dung” she counted, and Eve said eight. He told us that it was normal for an elephant to drop at least four pieces, but eight is fine too. Then we all had to smell the stuff. It didn’t smell like anything, fortunately. He said since the food moves so quickly through the elephants digestive system, that the poop doesn’t become like dog poop. It is full of fibre and doesn’t smell bad. Finally! The poop check was over!

 

Cleaning Time (Brushing and Bathing)

Now, it was time to brush the dirt off their backs. Sometimes horse flies come and bite the elephants backs, and their trunks can’t reach to scratch it, so they throw dirt on their backs with their trunks. It also serves as a sort of sunscreen. Eve and my dad got to demonstrate with their elephant. They went up to it, and were told to grab its tusk, or near it, and say “hé.” They did that, and the elephant walked with them towards the center of the little dirt area we were standing in. Then they told them to say “méllo.” Eve and my dad said “méllo,” and the elephant got down on his side. They were given brushes made of leaves, and started to brush the elephant. They had to hit it pretty hard to get the dirt unstuck from its hair, but they weren’t hurting it because it’s skin is so tough.

Me and my mom went up to Mekepa, and said “hé”, and she started to walk. We went to a good location, then said “méllo”. She got down on her
stomach, and we started to brush her off. After a little while of brushing, she was nice and clean. Or so we thought, until they announced the next activity… bath time!

 

 

We walked next to the building, and saw a pond where we would be washing the elephants. We took off our shoes, and walked into the water. It was pretty cold. Everyone’s elephants got in the water right away except ours. She refused to get in the cold! She was just like my mom! She clearly hated the cold. Eventually the trainer got her to go in the water.

Once she was covered in water, we were given a natural sponge like thing. It was from the forest, and when we rubbed it on our elephants, natural soap came out. I was told to get on our elephants back, so I hopped up and was sitting on her back. We washed the elephant with soap and water. At one point, the trainer threw water on Mekepa’s back, and it splashed off onto my moms head! It was pretty funny. After Mekepa was all covered in soap, we took our buckets back and splashed her with water again. We also fed the natural sponges to the elephants. They liked to eat them. Then we got out of the water, and got dried off. 

After we were all dry, we had a snack. It was sweet sticky rice with egg. I didn’t like it, but I wasn’t hungry anyway, so I gave it to my dad.

 

Exercise Time

The next activity was walking the elephants to exercise them. We walked them up and over a hill, then into the little village where the tribe lived. What I was most excited for was being allowed to ride them! Eve demonstrated how to get on the elephants. One way was to walk beside them, and they would bend their knee. Then you stepped on their knee, and they lifted their leg up. Once they did that, all you had to do was swing your leg over, and sit on their neck. The other way was stand in front of them, then they lower their head. You put your foot on their trunk, and they lift you up. Then you scoot on to their neck, and turn around.

I know a lot of people say it isn’t okay to ride elephants, but the trainers said it was okay and didn’t hurt the elephants at all. They only put one person on, and it is bare-back, and they only do it for their time of exercise. The Karen tribe has been looking after elephants for thousands of years and they are experts.

 

I walked up to Mekepa, because I was riding first. The trainer told her to lower her head, and once she did, I stepped on her trunk. She lifted me up, and I slid on to her neck. I turned around, and looked down at my mom. It was really high up! We started walking towards the village, our elephant in the front of the line.

 

About halfway to the village, it was time to switch, so the trainer got Mekepa to lie down, and I hopped off her back. My mom went up to Mekepa, and stepped on her leg. She lifted her up a bit, and my mom swung her leg over her back, and pulled herself up. Mekepa stood up, and we continued our walk.

 

Lunch for Us and Medicine for the Elephants

When we got to the village, my mom got off the elephant, and we went to a little building with benches. The Karen Tribe are mostly self sufficient, and grow their own food. They also raise their own animals. After a few minutes, they split us into two groups, and we each went to different buildings. We were in a group with me, Eve, my mom, my dad, and two other Canadians. There was lots of food. I ate a chicken leg, some watermelon and an entire pineapple! We didn’t manage to eat all the food because there was so much. We gave the leftover bits of watermelon and pineapple to the elephants.

After the delicious food, it was time to make some medicine for the elephants. It wasn’t really medicine, it was just a combination of foods that is really good for them. There were a few dry foods, like some seeds, and some other stuff that I didn’t even know what it was. We poured the dry foods into a tall bowl, and then used a big piece of wood to crush the foods in the bowl. We crushed the foods up a lot, then put in the other pieces of food. We mashed those up too. After they were all mashed together, we made them into balls, and fed them to the elephants.

We sat for a few minutes, then followed one of the trainers into the forest, and came out in a banana tree farm. The man cut a clump of bananas off the tree, and then cut the tree down. He then cut up the tree, and gave us each pieces to carry back to feed to the elephants. We carried our pieces back. They were really heavy. We set them at our elephant’s feet, and the trainer came and chopped them into smaller pieces. Mekepa started eating all the pieces, but then the trainer gave us sugar cane to feed her. She liked that more.

We fed her sugar cane for a while, and then had to say goodbye. We walked to the rest of the group, and then one of the guys said that we were going to his house to finish off the day. We all started walking, but then he asked Eve if she wanted to ride on the back of his scooter. She asked my mom if she could, and she said yes. So she zipped away, looking a little scared on the back of the scooter. We kept walking, and when we got there, we all sat around a table. The man took out a laptop, and started a slideshow of the day. It was really cool. My mom and dad went and looked at the little gift shop, while me and Eve watched some more of the slide show.

 

Long-lasting Memories

This was probably my favourite day of our trip so far. We are going to make a video about our day with the elephants, so Eve did an interview with one of the men. She asked a few questions, and then we walked away, hopped back in a car, and started the dreaded drive back through the mountains to our apartment in Chiang Mai.

Hope you enjoyed my story.

Luke