Luang Prabang, Day 5

Elephant Village

This day was dedicated to elephants. We signed up for a full day at an elephant rescue operation. A minibus picked us up from the guest house and took us way out SE of town. We followed a dirt road that is in the construction phase for some giant road they will be completing soon. I am not sure where it is going, but it looks like a lot of money is being spent to get people moving here in Laos. It was totally disorganized as to where you should drive on the road. If you wanted to drive over freshly graded road just before it was compacted, sure go for it! It was bumpy and muddy at times. We were just glad it was not raining.

We arrived at th elephant village and were given a brief explanation about the day. During the talk the elephants were already surrounding us with other people riding them and walking beside. The first event was just to take one out for a little walk. We climbed a platform and loaded onto the benches strapped to the top of the elephant. This was a little tricky as the bench would rock to one side, but when two people get in, it is fine. The Mahout is the captain and owner of the elephant, and he drove the beast around while Katherine and I just relaxed from our 10' observation deck. The mahout just sat on the head!

The ride was just fine until we realized that the Mahout was taking the elephant to the edge of the river. It was steep and the river was moving very swiftly. Yes, he had it just walk into the deep river. All of a sudden we were almost sitting on the water with the elephants head above as well. Sometimes it would get happy and spray water at us and smash it's trunk into the water in hopes of making a big splash. And that, it did.

We trudged out of the river onto an island. This is where our elephant decided to rip a big bush out of the rocks and fling it around like a toy. It never slapped us, but it sure got close. From there it was back into the river and out the other side. I must say, this was an experience that was a little odd. From that island, the Mahout put Katherine on the elephant's head and let her drive out of the river. She got a big work out just trying to stay on its head.

After the riding it was time to feed these creatures. Boy, that was something! They eat huge pieces of banana trees and grass. We ended up hand feeding bananas to them. Sometimes I would put one directly in an elephant's mouth and other times I would give it to the elephant's trunk. Each elephant likes to eat in a different way.

I feel bad calling the elephant "elephant" and using a neuter "it's". Of course they all have names, but they were so difficult to understand. I couldn't say them correctly or remember them very well. The Mahouts and the elephants spoke Laos and it was quite entertaining listening to them direct orders. All of our elephants, 9 of them, were female. They say it is too difficult to keep males around due to the "male" thing we know about. Just females. Kind of like a a big girls get-a-way vacation for them.

They call these elephants "rescued". What it is is that the Mahout stays with the elephant forever, and when his elephant is too old to do logging, he goes to a place like this. They also go to where the money is. Some of the mahouts have younger elephants, but can also get paid to take tourists on rides and raise money for elephant habitats and places like this one. The main guide was telling us that some of them talk about going back to logging in the tourist low seasons due to the money. The mahouts can make quite a bit of money logging, so the Village has to pay them really well to convince them to come there instead. It's a tough world out there for them and the species is endangered, but have a long history of logging. I guess the best bet would be to find some kind of balance in it. People will log, but it should be done in a way that keeps the elephants from working insane hours that stress them and clearcut the forest. It would be nicer and more Eco friendly to have elephants out there hauling a few logs instead of diesel driven monstrosities ripping everything up. They mentioned that China is coming in looking for wood and it is making the logging industry boom. It is a bubble that will burst and hopefully not at the expense of all the forest and remaining elephants in Laos. If the forest goes, the elephants go as well.

We had a wonderful lunch and then headed up the river on a mini long tail. The guide took us to a waterfall and zip line place. He mentioned that later in the rainy season the waterfall is quite massive, but for now it was not running too strong. It still was a good place to cool off in the fresh water with some friends we had met. After that we took the boat down river back to the elephant village. Just cruising on the river is a sight to see. There was no sign of people at all. Not yet. The jungle goes right to the rivers edge and the trees are HUGE!

When we got back, it was time to wash the elephants. This involved another ride on the elephant's neck down to the river where the elephants walked right in and sat down. We were given brushes to scrub their heads, trunk (as best we could), and sides. They were quite playful slapping their ears in joy. That is how they show their appreciation since they can not laugh. After that we rode them again, nice and clean, to the main station area and dismounted.

It was a very fun day, spending so much time with these amazing animals. Obviously,they need to be taken care of, and their habitat is the first place to start. Everything else is just like putting band aids on a larger wound. This operation is doing their best job for a problem that is quite large.

We took the bumpy dirt road back to town and got 7ups in the old school bottle and noodle soups. It was a great day and will be something I will always remember.

 

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