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| Giving our elephants a bath |
One of my all time favourite memories of any travel trips was the mahout (elephant trainer) course we did at Maesa Elephant Camp in Chang Mai, Thailand (
maesaelephantcamp.com). This is a very well known elephant camp in the region and it is claimed that they were the first to teach the elephants to paint (yes - paint). The normal day tour activities at the camp start around lunch time with a very
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| One of the elephants painting |
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| My sister getting onto her elephants |
nice elephant show. My wife, step-son and sister signed up for the mahout course some time ago. We had to arrive very early in the morning. Firstly, were were fitted out in our mahout outfits complete with bamboo hats. Then the fun started. Each of us were given an elephant for the day (obviously with their Thai mahout in close attendance). We then started the day! We had to learn to give our elephants commands. My elephant's name was Boon Mai. After we gave the elephants instructions to allow us to get onto each elephant we started off on a lovely walk through the jungle - just me an my elephant - followed by each of the party on their own elephant. Watching my sister (who is a good few years older than me) getting onto her elephant was special! Eventually the poor elephant was lying flat on the ground to allow her to get on!
After the walk in the forest, we proceeded to the river, where we could give our elephants a bath. They (and us) loved it. We were given a scrubbing brush and we preceded to scrub down the elephants. Boon Mai was enjoying the water so much that he was lying down with just the tip of his truck sticking out of the water. Elephants do what elephants do after eating tons of
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| Quite moment with the elephant |
vegetation and it seemed like the river was a favourite place for this activity. There were quite a few Thai ladies, with washing baskets strategically placed in the river to catch the not so little balls of dung which were floating down the river. We were totally enjoying this experience. Eventually we noted that all of the other day tour visitors were arriving, and we (with our elephants) in the river were the main attraction.
We then went for a fantastic Thia meal while our elephants and their real mahouts went off to get ready for the show. There were lots of tourists coming in for the show and I was getting a bit worried that we would not have place to sit. No fear! Just before the start of the show, we were led to the royal box and we sat there like royal guests watching the elephant show. Boon Mai was also part of the show. After the show, the day tourists could buy bananas and pineapples to give to the elephants. I went to wait my turn to give Boon Mai a few bananas. When I went up to Boon Mai to pat him on the head, he gently put his truck around me and gave me a hug - no commands given, just a spontaneous show of affection! What a moment!
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| Our elephant paintings. Boon Mai's artwork is the one on the left |
After the show we moved to the back area again where things were set up for us to do the painting with the elephants. Boon Mai has his unique style of painting. He just paints dots. What an experience. The basic plan is that you hand your elephant the brush and you point to where he or she should paint, and the elephant does the paining. Not my Boon Mai! He first looks at the colour on the brush I have just handed him, then stares at the canvas and then decides where that colour should be and starts to make dots. Without taking his eyes of the canvas, he hands (or should we say "trunks") me the brush. I put more paint onto the brush and the process starts again. The dots are not randomly placed on the canvas! A true artist!
All too soon, it was the end of the day. What a fantastic day and this will always remain very high on my list of favourite travel experience. Well worth doing.
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