elephant nature park

Dear travel journal,
Omg im so tired. Up at 3.30am, got my stuff sorted and headed downstairs jumping into a taxi and headed to the dmk airport. At the airport i checked in and headed through security and found my gate. 45mins from hotel to gate, thats pretty good seeing i was told it could take 2 hours - although i did doubt that would be the case at 4am. After getting sorted and knowing where i was at, i went and sat in a cafe and had breakfast before jumping on the plane. I honestly dont remember the plane taking off. I remember boarding and an announcement saying we were delayed a little because of runway congestion and then i woke up 30-60 mins later, with a sore neck from the weird arse position i was in. Then off the plane, ran and got my bag and jumped in a taxi and made it to the elephant nature park office about 5 minutes before the transfer arrived to pick me up - yay i made it. Then an hour and a half in the minivan, with a coffee/toilet break in the middle and we had made it. It was quite busy and loads of people, mostly day visitors. We have 16 overnight guests and the park currently has 70 volunteers. There are heaps of staff and the organisation has hired a lot of burma refugees and helps give aid to their families, by paying for their childrens education and giving them and their parenters an income. Its pretty cool, but the handlers work hard - 7am till 4pm, 7 days a week. First thing we did was take all of our stuff out of the van and make a pile. Then our guide jo took us for a walk around the park and introduced us to some of the elephants. The park has 70 elephants, 400 dogs and 250 cats, horses, water buffalow and more. The cats and dogs mostly just free range everywhere. In front of the main buildings the elephants all have night dens but the 18 on this side of the river have free range of the park. Each elephant has a mahout (handler) and their job is to stay with them from 7am until 4pm daily and make sure they dont get into any trouble. One heard is in medical lock down and will get let out when they have been cleared. The poor little man (3 years) was clearly bored. And there are others kept seperate for safety for people or other elephants depending on temperament etc. So we walked around the park and got introduced to some of the elephants and shown some of the dog kennels, a lot of which have been rescued from the bangkok floods a couple of years ago, which have shelter, enrichment and are quite big, which is good cause they are multihoused. Then we had lunch and headed back out and watched one of the herds, with a 7 month old, have a mud bath. Seriously a whole group of massive elephants in a tiny mud pond, it was quick amusing. At first when they all headed to the mud, some came up behind people and they didnt even notice cause they are so quiet. One guy all of a sudden hand an elephant bump into him and he jumped ten feet, it was quite amusing. Then we got changed and headed down to the river with buckets. The elephants came to join us and stopped in the water and a masdivr bucket of fruit while we threw water at it. It was quite fun. Our elephants name was zaza, big slow old girl. Then back up to the main building and we said goodbye to jo and met apple our night guide. She showed us to our rooms / mini houses, which are open rooms, beds with mossie nets, a bathroom and patio either side and dogs included if you leave the doors open lol. The back patio overlooks the elephants night pens so we are sleeping like 20 meters away from the elephants, which is kind of cool. Then we had free time until dinner. I sat and did nothing for a bit, the headed up to the domestic for a look around. But i couldnt go in unfortunatly. But the runs look good, so do the horse yards. Then i walked back and had a chat with a volley and she said they pretty much have the same cases as shelters as home. Hit by cars, worm burdens, renal failure etc. But apparently the park dont believe in humane euthansia which she said is hard sometimes. Then i watched the rest of the elephants get put to bed, so they are safe overnight and sat on the 'sky walk' - a long viewing platform overlooking the park and watched the sun go down and listened to the river and animals (mainly dogs) making loads of noise. While the kids who live at the park with their families played soccer out on one of the fields. It was cool to watch. Then it was time for dinner, which again was quite tasty. Then i bailed and headed to bed, cause im seriously struggling to stay awake. Night night xoRead more