National Elephant Park

We were picked up at our hotel at 8:30 this morning to spend the day at Elephant National Park, a sanctuary and recovery centre for rescued elephants.

It was a 75 minute ride to the compound but some of the time was spent watching a video on rescuing elephants from abusive situations (e.g. the lumber industry). Our guide Johnny, went over some basic safety rules then off we went to the edge of a platform to feed the elephant bananas and watermelons. Very cool. Some of the elephants had specific preferences only accepting bananas and ignoring the watermelon.

Then down the steps to meet our first elephants up close and personal. The rest of the day we walked around a portion of the 140 acre property, meeting the family groups. It was distressing to see the injuries from the logging camps: broken legs which never were treated properly, injuries from land mines, blindness and psychological injuries that prevented the elephants from trusting elephants or people. But there were happy stories too with several babies and juveniles who had been born on the property.

The elephants are free to go wherever they wish with their mahouts (handlers) following. So we had to stay alert and be ready to move out of their way quickly. We watched them eat (they eat 18 hours per day), cover themselves in mud and play in the river. We were all amazed at how close we could get to the elephants. The message of the park is respect and education so there are no elephant rides here.

It was very hot but a wonderful day.Read more