During our trip to Chiang Mai, we went to the Elephant EcoValley sanctuary. It was a special experience. We visited on Todd’s birthday and just a couple of days before our anniversary. I, Julie, worked with our guide to organize a unique celebration for us.
This is a place that takes care of elephants who have been rescued. The herd is mostly female, and each elephant has a handler called the mahoot. They do not have people ride the elephants here, and they don’t have the elephants doing tricks. It is a place where the elephants are kept safe and healthy, and they get to do pretty much what they want to do. During our visit, we learned about how the elephants spend their days. Our guide explained the elephants’ diet which consists of grasses, hay, palm stalks, and banana stalks. He also explained their mating rituals. It was mating season in April, so the male was not in camp. He was off by himself because the males become very aggressive when they are in heat. It is the males who show the signs of being in heat. Our guide explained that they secrete a fluid from a gland on either side of their head that runs down in front of their ears.
The herd produces a large amount of poop. One of the ways the sanctuary deals with that is to make paper from the elephant poop. The elephant diet is full of fiber so they wash it and turn it into a pulp that they pull up with a screen and let it dry. It’s the same process they used at my childhood summer camp when they soaked old newspapers and made new paper. When we left our guide gave us a frame made of elephant poop paper.
Hand-assisted mortar and pestle for vitamin balls
The main event of the day was the time we got to spend with the elephants. We made some softball-sized vitamin balls for the elephants and fed them. Then we went on a walk with one of the elephants. We walked behind her for a while and in front of her at other times. We carried some bananas to feed her, watched her pull apart some banana stalks, and scratch on a tree. She was not on a chain or a lead. It was just a conversation between her and the mahout who is her caretaker.
Us on the trail for a bath.
We’re there
We stopped at a mud hole and waterfall at the end of the walk. At this point, we stripped down to our bathing suits, got in the mud with her, and gave her a mud bath. We rubbed mud all over anything we could reach except her face. She loved it. She made happy sounds and we spent the rest of the week cleaning mud out of our fingernails and toenails. After the mud was on, we used some special bark to rub her skin. Something in the bark helps protect them from the biting flies (think horse flies but with a stronger bite). And we threw buckets of water on her until the mud was rinsed off. At the end of our time in the mud, three more elephants arrived at the watering hole along with a baby. There was a larger group of people with those elephants. I was sure someone’s foot (maybe mine) would get stepped on by one of those elephants, but they were gentle and careful as they went in.
Splash Splash. Notice the Bamboo shower heads
When we came out, we showered off and changed into dry clothes, then went to lunch at a table under a canopy of leaves, overlooking the area where the elephants were hanging out. It was a lovely lunch, and while we were eating, the staff was preparing the surprise I organized in honor of Todd’s birthday and our anniversary. It was something they did especially for us. I read about it at another elephant sanctuary and asked about it. This sanctuary had never done it before, but they happily made it happen for us.
Toddy: Making me giggle.
The staff were all so cute and excited about it. The chef came out to see how we liked our lunch and had a big, conspiratorial grin on his face the whole time. Our guide for the elephant tour (named “Sang”), came over and chatted us up. He got Todd talking about how it was his birthday and our anniversary, etc…
Then at the end of lunch, they had all the elephants gathered and told us that we were going to say goodbye to them before we left. When we walked over they had a whole table prepared for us—three huge plates of all the elephants’ favorite fruits. One plate had “HBD TODD” carved in a watermelon in the middle. Another plate had “Happy Anniversary Julie and Todd” in individual letters standing up on toothpicks in the middle. This took time, and the chef was so proud and happy to see how touched and surprised we were. All the mahouts were happy to see their elephants getting such a feast. The elephants were gentle but insistent. They were so excited to get the fruit. We even got to feed the baby.
Toddy: I was blown away with surprise by this little trick that Julie had up her sleeve. She always pulls something off for me on my birthday, and I adore her for it. Often concerts…. Elvis Costello, John Prine, The Decemberists, and Sparks to name a few. We both had read a book titled, ‘Madoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived’. We wanted to do some elephant thing ever since reading about that most amazing elephant and moving to Thailand. In the Thai countryside elephants are common, and are treated with a great deal of respect…the Buddha way. The elephants had a good day and feeding them was quite the experience as well as very touching. They are a bit pushy when you have a handful of fruit, and we were goosed a few times. I didn’t report it to HR though, so it was the elephants’ lucky day. What a wonderful time we’ll never forget!!!!!
