Having already visited two elephant sanctuaries — one in Cambodia and one in India — we were less than impressed. Well, we were impressed but somewhat for the wrong reasons. The elephants in those two facilities were kept chained up, so they didn’t seem particularly happy, as if what they really needed refuge from was the refuge itself. But being within range of another one in Thailand, we couldn’t resist having another go at it. Maybe the third time would be the charm.

Coming from Bangkok, we catch an overnight train to Chiang Mai. We have comfortable births, though they’re separated and at almost opposite ends of the car. An attendant comes through at about 8:00 p.m. to convert the seats into bunks, and fit them with bedding. She’s a marvel to observe, performing her tasks without a motion wasted, with the smooth and swift grace of a symphony conductor on a film played at double speed. We wish we’d made a video of her.

Arriving at the train station in Chiang Mai at 6:30 a.m., we have two and a half hours to wait until we can check in at our Aribnb. So we take turns exploring the neighborhood on foot (so the other person can guard the bags) and get drenched by monsoon season. Finally, we make it to our apartment where we’ll be staying the next few days, and from which we’ve arranged to catch a ride to the elephant sanctuary the following morning.

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

It’s raining again when the van arrives at 7:00 a.m. the next morning in front of our homestay to fetch us; and we’re beginning to suspect that we and the big gray beasts will get soggy during the day’s adventure. But the rain later ceases during the course of our 90-minute drive to reach our destination. There are about 10 other passengers in the van, hailing from Spain, Colombia, Korea, and the U.S. During the bumpy ride (this van, it appears, is much in need of new shocks) we stop for a break at a gas station/ rest stop with several stores and food joints where passengers can obtain snacks and use the WC. Our van is joined by a couple of other vans from the same tour company, and our passengers are joined by a female guide.

So at about 8:30 we pulled into the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. First the driver deposits a couple of passengers at one entrance, because they have signed up for a different variety of experience (there are several options to choose from), and then the rest of us are taken a little farther to another entrance.

Home base is a pavilion with picnic tables, lockers, and restrooms — including showers, which some of us will need later. The staff issues each of us a colorfully striped vest, a traditional raiment from the Karen tribe. On a table are tea, coffee and cookies, of which we are free to avail ourselves.

A guide gives us an orientation, and he speaks pretty good English, though he does say “okay guys” a lot. (But then many native speakers also annoyingly repeat certain phrases, don’t they?) Using little wooden models of elephants, he explains the difference between Asian and African species, and instructs us about our tour for the day. One thing he advises us about is not to approach one of the animals from the rear; although they are very gentle and quite accustomed to people, if they can’t see you, they may perceive you as a threat and greet you with a kick from a rather weighty appendage.

Thus briefed, we head down to the corral with buckets of pumpkin slices, which we feed to them, half a dozen adults and a baby. They are in a corral — i.e. behind a wooden rail — apparently just to prevent them from getting a bit too eager for grub and rush toward us. We hold the pumpkin slice up toward them, and they snatch it with their trunks; if we do it adroitly enough, we can avoid getting slimed.

Once the pumpkin is consumed, the elephants are led out of the corral and out to an area littered with stalks that they also eat — after deftly breaking them with their trunks into more manageable bites. As they savor the second course of their banquet, we are able to pet them.

Then we head back to the pavilion to assemble course three. These are made up of leaves, rice, and tamarind. Oh yes, there is a little nutritional compound, sort of like their daily vitamin supplement that will be inserted into the middle of this dish. The latter has to be crushed up, using a wooden mortar and pestle. The staff asks for volunteers to perform this task, and of course we jump in and offer our services — as just about everyone does eventually.

Once the secret supplements are crushed, we also pitch in with rolling them up with the other ingredients into balls, acquiring quite a joyous mess on our hands. Then we take them down to our eagerly waiting four-legged clientele, and serve them.

With the feeding completed at least for the time being (elephants spend up to 18 hours per day eating, consuming as much as 600 pounds of food and 40 gallons of water), it’s time for their bath.. But these pampered pachyderms don’t get just an ordinary bath. It’s preceded by a dip in their very own mud spa. And not only do we get to witness that, we get to participate in it.

Those of us who are game for mud bathing the beasts change into our swimming attire if we don’t want to risk getting our regular clothes filthy. Then the elephants wade into the mud pit, and we barge in after them. They have as much fun as we do, as we apply mud to their hides, and get plenty of it on our own. Elephants love the mud for several reasons: it cools them down, it protects them from sun and insects, and the act of wallowing and cavorting in it helps them develop social skills within their herd.

Once they’ve spent some time mudding, they are ready to get clean. For this they parade down to the river and frolic there for a while. Ordinarily, we would have been able to plunge in with them. But on this occasion it’s not allowed because the water in the river is deeper than normal due to the rains. So instead we get to stand on the banks on watch them have all the fun — which is pretty fun in itself.

Once they are squeaky clean, they galumph back up to their corral (probably getting ready for more grub) and we go to get cleaned up so we can have our own lunch. This is provided as part of the package, and features rice, noodles, little triangular omelets, curried potatoes, and watermelon.

And when we’ve finished eating, we bid farewell to the elephants and their keepers, load up into the van and begin the drive back home. The third time was indeed the best of all, by far. This is the way an elephant sanctuary should be operated. And we hope to be back some day to see these elephants again. If they live up to their reputation, they’ll even remember us.

9/20/2024