Bann Chang Elephant Park

The following day in Chiang Mai we were collected by Chee from the Bann Chang Elephant Park, a small Family run Eco Park with a private owner (not a chain).  

  The home is dedicated to educating the public about the Asian Elephant of Thailand and providing the best life quality to rescued animals.  There are no elephant tricks or rides to be found here....events that exploit the elephant by taking away the normal time that an elephant should be eating.   Elephants eat all day to sustain their bulk and normally only sleep 2-3 hours.  There is a huge acreage at the park for natural foraging for the animals as well as the treats given of sugar cane.

  With a small backpack to stay overnight and spend a few days getting down and dirty with the big beasts, we came in a 4x4 with our driver/ guide Chee.    He had once been a mahout himself but with a knack for languages, studied to become a guide.  A mahout is an elephant trainer or keeper and is a Hindi word.  In Thailand he is known as kwan-chang.

After an introduction about the park and the habits of elephants, we were given uniforms to wear so we didn't have to take back soiled clothes.

    Our first job was feeding stalks of young sugar cane ( less sugar) to the elephants.  It was fascinating to see how each one accepted the food differently .  My first elephant wanted to put three small stalks in her mouth as soon as it was offered.  Lanna, however, wanted at least 9-13 pieces before bringing the bite to his mouth.  He was expert at arranging the pieces with his "trunk fingers" in the crook of his trunk before the next bite.

Dave with his first elephant of the stay

We climb out of the pond after bathing the elephants.

The first elephant I fed and followed the first day was Mai-lee, a female blind from cataracts.  When she wanted some more stalks of sugar cane, she raised her trunk.  When she was happy she flapped her ears. No problem.  I had the goodies so she followed me anywhere.

There were at least 5 babies and moms present kept separate from the others. We were allowed to feed and interact with them.  The babies couldn't digest the banana skins but knew how to squish the end of the fruit to get at the pulp if a whole one landed mistakenly at their feet.

Babies were kept separately with their mothers in pens.

Dave with a tray of medicine balls

 
After a tasty lunch, we were introduced to the idea of "medicine balls". These were concocted by the guests each day to give extra nutrition to the elephants.  Some of the ingredients were bananas and banana peels, sticky rice and several kinds of herbs and leaves that were found on the acreage.    The elephants thought of these as candy and generally accepted them with great enthusiasm... placed directly into their mouths, as many as you could shove in.  There is a resident Vet at Bann Chang and any problems of health are quickly addressed.

Dave and mahout in the bathing pond

Near the end of our day we went along with our two elephants and their trainers for the daily bath.   The mahouts who knew these elephants could coax them to sit and then we all did the scrubbing.  The beasts seemed to enjoy it and we were getting rid of their parasites, it seems.

In the evening we were treated to the second meal at the park and ate under a lovely pavilion, the only guests that day.

  It was a tasty dinner: a curry soup, rice and two other main dishes with chicken and chilies and of course, the wonderful small pineapple from the region which was always served with the meals.  These small pineapples from the region, oh- so- sweet, can be eaten center stalk and flesh.

Chee wishes us "Bon Appetite"

Our evening chef for a lovely Thai meal