"A lovely early morning walk with the elephants and their mahouts"

A friend that I met through the local vegetarian meet-up, Nasiya Amoroso, has impressed me with her volunteer efforts, along with those of her husband’s.  This past Spring, she told me about a trip she was going to embark on to an elephant sanctuary that sounded particularly enticing.  Then I thought about my family responsibilities and decided I will go when my toddler is older.  I asked her to allow me and others to experience it vicariously at least, by sharing her experience on my blog.  Following is her description of her trip, in her own words, in three parts.  Stay tuned the next few days for the remaining parts.

Part 1

“I try to take a volunteer vacation every year and I usually try to experience a different volunteer location every time. So, I couldn’t understand why my husband chose to return to Zambia every year to build houses. I understand about commitment and wanting to establish roots in one location so you can see progress (which is what lead him to create www.zambiabuild.org), but I always felt the urge to try something new every year.

That is, until I discovered Elephant Nature Park outside Chiang Mai, Thailand: www.elephantnaturepark.org

I’m an animal advocate, but surprisingly have never been on a volunteer trip that directly affects animals. But my experience at the Elephant Nature Park (ENP) was absolutely surreal and each time it leaves me with the wheels turning, making plans for the “next time”.

Elephant trekking, circus shows, elephant street begging, elephant painting, and other forms of elephant tourism may seem harmless and make the elephants look “happy” doing what they do.  But, there’s nothing “happy” about their situation. Most of these elephants go through the Thai pajaan technique (look it up online) or other forms of torture in order to make them submissive.  If you see an elephant holding a paintbrush about to create a beautiful work of art, or riding a bicycle…THINK about what they might have gone through before performing that task.

The goal of ENP is to provide a safe haven for abused and/or neglected elephants so they can live a life as close to their natural habitat as possible. Lek, the founder, has rescued over 30 elephants with extremely heartbreaking stories. It’s hard to come here and not shed any tears.  The history of the rescued elephants are heartbreaking.  But the good thing is the tears you shed may also be tears of relief, as these majestic creatures are finally living a life they deserve to live.

ENP not only takes volunteers for days, weeks or months, but it’s also a revolutionary way to support ethical eco-tourism, as day visitors are also welcome.  You get to support the park and the rescue of these poor elephants through your volunteer dollars or park entrance fee.  But, you are not supporting the exploitation or abuse of these elephants since they are not in chains, nor confined and no bull-hooks are used. The elephants live their lives naturally, and you still get interaction with the elephants (you even have the opportunity to bathe them!).  Each elephant has a full-time mahout, so I never felt unsafe around any of the elephants.”

The Story of Mae Do

"Mae Do, one of the saddest stories before her rescue from ENP"