Hike with Lan Na, Chee and Nome

Our dormitories at Bann Chang

Lanna, Nome (with the hat) and Chee

After the a cozy night in the well appointed dormitories of Bann Chang, we set off for a hike with Lan Na, a huge male elephant with rubber protection ( for the trees) wired onto his meter long tusks.  He was named for Lan Na or Lanna Kingdom, also down as Lannathai,  which was an Indianized state centered in present day Northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries.  

Lan Na has found a stand of elephant grass and goes at it.

Nome encourages the campfire

Nome prepares the banana leaf packet of egg to put into the coals

Dave and I start to eat on our banana leaf table cloth while the elephants graze

 After we stopped at a little sheltered cabin with Nome and Chee to show us how to have a jungle picnic with chicken legs already marinated and rice cooked in bamboo tubes.

Lan Na and his girlfriend

During lunch Lan Na's girlfriend showed up with her mahout and Lan Na came off the hill in an instant to be with her.  All she had to do was bang her trunk on the ground, and he was there. They went off foraging together within sight of us.   

It was a wondrous outing to be so close to the big beasts in a natural looking environment and to coax the elephants home all we needed was a bag of sugar cane pieces.

After that,  we ventured to another large pond in the compound where Nome would scrub down the big guy for his daily bath.  

 Then Dave and I went off to see the babies for a while.

It is a great thrill interacting with these large animals, so gentle and so well cared for in this place.   We were glad we had chosen this chance to be among them.