Camille from Australia decided to help out with some elephants during her time in Thailand. Having a natural apathy with nature and seeking a fairer balance between humanity and other life on this planet she felt it her duty to investigate the treatment of local wildlife. Camille has a biological science degree majoring in ecology and has explored nature on most continents of the world, with only South America and the Antarctic left for her adventurous spirit to grace.
Camille gives a little treat to this elephant
She sought out the best way to strike a better balance for the biggest native Thai beast; the elephant, or ‘Chang’ as it’s known locally and wants to share her story. Camille is bothered about the treatment of domestic elephants within Thailand. Key areas of trouble are tourism, begging and illegal logging – these would be considered illegal activities with wild elephants, however domestic elephants are considered livestock and are fair game for exploitation. Through arduous studying of the various types of sanctuary available for these magnificent animals Camille found the Elephant Nature Park of ‘Sangduen Chailert’ (Or Lek as she prefers to be known) in the region of Chiang Mai.
A volunteer and an elephant share a relaxing moment together
At a Global Issues Network conference attended by Camille in Bangkok, Lek was guest speaker. Camille discussed Lek’s presentation with her afterwards and they swapped emails. Initially Camille visited the Elephant Nature Park as a tourist for a quick weekend experience. She enjoyed cleaning the elephants in the morning, a lovely Buddhist vegetarian lunch and then bathing time with the elephants in the afternoon. She went with staff for a walk to meet the different groups of elephants and learn about them from their mahouts.
Friendship with an elephant is magical
Encouraged by the excellent conditions the animals were living in and the level of care shown by all members of staff Camille later decided to enrol on a 7 day volunteer program with Lek’s organisation. She had a wide range of experiences there with odd jobs like preparing elephants lunches of fruit and vegetables. This consisted of unpacking vast amounts of produce from the back of a large truck, cleaning it all and storing it away. Each elephant has it’s own basket, some elephants are choosey about what they eat and each elephant has a diet catered to it’s own tastes. Some dislike corn whilst others love it and so specially prepared baskets are made up to suit each elephant. One thing they all love though is ‘banana balls’ – softball sized, sweet syrup, banana and rice or maize packages which are eaten with zeal and is given to them as a particular treat. Bathing time is a fun activity where the elephants share their naturally social behaviours with each other and their human friends.
Overnight trips were a couple of times a week when the families of elephants go to a place called ‘elephant haven’, a 2 hour walk through intense jungle were volunteers can accompany them. Elephants spend the evening allowed to roam free here – mostly eating according to Camille. The evening is pitch black with exotic, and sometimes scary, jungle noises coming from all around. The volunteers slept in bamboo huts with no walls and under the ever needed mosquito net. Camille felt perfectly safe as the mahouts were on guard at all times and she made some good friends with fellow travellers. Sunrise is work time and so from 5:30 AM the long walk back to the park with the elephants begins.
Camille helps bathe an elephant
Most of the elephants which now live in the park have been rescued because they were injured, malnourished, ill-treated or just not wanted anymore. One of Camille’s favourite elephants (although she loves them all) is called Jokia. She lost a baby and suffered depression and refused to work which eventually led to her being blind in both eyes. She eventually found her way to the Elephant Nature Park were she has now formed a firm friendship with another elephant called ‘Mae Perm’. This pair of elephants are never far from each other and remind Camille of two little old ladies. They reassure each other through touch and both seem to be very happy with their current lives. Older elephants at Lek’s reserve get to enjoy their retirement with eating, playing, swimming leisurely with each other.
Mahour 'Mee' and elephant 'Jokia'
Another of Camille’s favourites is called ‘Hope’. He was rescued by Lek as a baby and was Lek’s first attempt at training a baby elephant through positive reinforcement as oppose to ‘phajaan’ which is the traditional method of conditioning baby elephants to comply through punishment and torture. He is now a cheeky teenager who thoroughly entertains all visitors to the park (Some may be lucky enough to see his treatment of the vet through jostling play throwing). He is now the oldest male at the park and will soon begin his role as a father to the next generation.
Camille has returned to the park on numerous occasions and has engaged in other activities there such as tree planting projects due to weather damage and clearance for farmland as well as stripping bamboo for environmentally friendly huts, fences and walkways to be built. Other projects which the Elephant Nature Park work with help stray dogs, cats and injured buffalo. They also work closely with local schools and the indiginous hill tribe people to create a sustainably environment for people, animals and fauna alike.
Come have an elephant squirt water at you!
Since volunteering at the elephant park Camille has been inspired to do other things in the region. Whilst she maintains her ties to the elephant park and promotes the ideals nurtured there she is currently looking into the conservation of sea turtles in and around the South East Asian region. She hopes that everyone who visits the park gets to know the elephants on their own terms and finds a kindred soul amongst these ancient beautiful creatures.
Here is a quick video of the park from Erikemery from YouTube.
If you would like to find out more, to help or to volunteer in Lek’s fantastic work with these wondrous creatures then please contact them directly at their website for the Elephant Nature Park. Camille is certain that you will have an awesome experience which you will always cherish.
Update: Lek’s organisation has just been given the green light to help elephants in the Surin region of Thailand. They are looking for volunteers and are building another sanctuary for the elephants there from scratch. Head on over to their site for more details on the project.
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