Passion Points: Green/Eco

Desert bar at Siwa, Egypt; courtesy of Siwa
Desert bar at Siwa, Egypt; courtesy of Siwa

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October 24, 2008 at 02:35 PM

An Elephant Program in Thailand

Indagare member Marina Tan visited Thailand in July and spent three days at Elephant Stay (www.elephantstay.com), a non-profit that works with retired elephants, as well as funds and oversees a nursery where 35 elephants have been born since 2000. The plight of the elephants is a major issue in Southeast Asia, as the animals are on longer needed for the work they performed for decades and are more frequently abused and kept in unbearable conditions in major cities (it is not uncommon to see an elephant being paraded down the busiest avenues in Bangkok as a tourist attraction). Visitors to Elephant Stay, located in Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital about a one-hour-hour drive from Bangkok, have the chance to help take care of the animals and see what a difference their commitment, time and money makes in the lives of these majestic animals. Here’s what Tan, who traveled with her parents and nine-year-old daughter Liana, wrote about the experience:

“My daughter Liana loves elephants, so when my sister told me about Elephant Stay, I decided to do this trip. But as it turned out, I was the one that became crazy about them! We spent three days at Elephant Stay, and our fellow guests included an Australian man and his two grandsons (about 10 years old) and a lovely young Scottish guy on his way to settle down in Australia.

Elephant Stay has approximately 79 elephants and visitors work with the older, retired ones. Most of the elephants have individual mahouts (caretakers), so visitors are rarely alone with the animals. The program is managed by Ewa (pronounced Eva) Narkiewicz and Michelle Reedy, both from Australia, who are happy to talk about the elephants and answer any questions. The lodgings and surroundings are simple. The six rooms are raised off the ground and the walls are made of woven cane. Each has two single beds. It’s rustic but (most important!) air conditioned. The toilet and shower are located down the stairs and behind the rooms, so night trips require close attention. Upon arrival, we were are assigned an elephant to work with (my parents and I were assigned Chong Ko, Liana had one all to herself: Loong Sap).

The daily schedule is roughly as follows:

MORNING

After a simple breakfast, a mahout meets you up and passes you a rake and broom. An elephant eats up to 150 kilos (330 pounds) a day: that’s a lot of dung and someone has to rake it. The dung is pushed onto blue tarps and swung onto the back of a truck. There’s fresh-cut long grass that you then drag over to feed your elephant so that the process can start all over again…unless a nearby elephant swings its trunk around and grabs the grass from you first. When you’re done, you’re ready for a shower and rest!

Then it’s time to exercise the elephant. They’re brought out into the open and it’s time to climb on. The Asian elephant, although smaller than the African elephant, is still between 6 – 10 feet tall at the shoulder. The visitor sits on the elephants neck, with the mahout behind on the back. It’s intimidating being that high and takes a little getting used to (my mum never did…once was enough for her). You ride your elephants around a paddock and then down to the river. The elephants walk straight into the river and after taking a long drink, they will completely submerge themselves which means you get very wet.

LUNCH

You eat in an open air hut—pavilion would be too grand a term—together with the other visitors. The menu is limited, but it’s tasty. Drinks are extra so have some change handy and it’s not advisable to drink alcoholic beverages, as elephants don’t like the smell. There’s added entertainment when the baby elephants take a bath in the ditch next to the lunch hut. Michelle is usually around to answer questions and go over the commands to control your elephant.

AFTERNOON

Then it’s time to take for another walk. You begin by taking them over to the ‘shower stall’. With a hose and a brush, you scrub your elephant all over. Top side, bottom side and back side! It’s really important for her to cool down and stay clean. Fun factoid: elephants don’t sweat except for between their toes. It’s a good time to wash the tops of their heads and maybe around their eyes (elephants don’t have tear ducts). You also take another trip around the paddock and back to the river. After a little while, it’s time to ride them back up to their shelter where you drag more grass over for their dinner. The grass is sharp and prickly so it’s nice to have a hot shower before the communal dinner, which consists of scrumptious Thai Food.

IN SUM

Overall, Elephant Stay is hard work but so rewarding. One day at lunch time, a little one that had moved from one shelter to another suddenly got disorientated and forgot where it’s mother was. It started trumpeting for her. Immediately the mother started bellowing and pulling at the chain around her leg (the elephants all have padded ankle bracelets, so that they don’t eat the neighbor’s bananas!). The mahouts jumped up to stop her and guided the little one towards her (had she pulled harder, the pole the chain was attached to and the canopy would have come down). It was heartwarming to see the reunion of mother and child and the old ladies (the retired elephants) making such a to do over the little one. Being up close and personal with the elephants was a gift and well-worth the hard work.”

TIPS

Elephant Stay is a place for travelers who are looking for a memorable, meaningful trip. There is no spa or concierge. Ayutthaya is a tourist attraction in it’s own right as it was the old capital of Thailand. There are many temples scattered around. My parents took a day off to explore.

CONTACTS & BOOKING

Ewa and Michelle are your contacts for everything. I made my booking online (there are several packages available). It’s cash up front, which was a little cumbersome, and I hope they can do something about accepting credit card. Ewa can organize transport to and from Bangkok. Go to www.elephantstay.com for details.

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Rhino Darting with CC Africa

Only a few years ago, the African rhino, an occasionally overlooked member of the Big Five, was critically endangered, its long, sharp horns a coveted item on the world’s black market. Today, the population of the animal is on the rise in many private reserves, thanks to strict anti-poaching rules (enforced by rangers) and a procedure known as rhino darting, in which rhinos are sedated (via dart guns) and tagged for tracking purposes. Eco-minded safari-goers can experience the latter, an adrenalin-packed conservation program, firsthand at Phinda Private Game Reserve (pronounced pinda) in northern South Africa. For the past few years, the 57,000-acre reserve managed by the eco-conscious outfitter CC Africa, has been leading four-day “Rhino Capture & Research” safaris. For each one, guests accompany vets and rangers in the bush, in search of unidentified rhinos.

The process, occasionally dubbed “green hunting”, is not for the faint of heart. As the name implies, the first part involves shooting the animal (with a muscle relaxant) via a dart gun. Krista Krieger, a New Yorker who participated on one expedition, paints a vivid picture: “we set out in three different jeeps and drove through a herd of about 40 rhinos. The vet would shoot the darts from about 100 feet away. Once the animals went down, we’d run over and insert a GPS tracking device into the rhino’s neck.” From there, as the beast lies immobilized and blindfolded, the vet notches—a procedure that entails cutting a unique number of grooves into the rhino’s ears. Notching is what allows vets to track rhino populations and maintain what is referred to as the reserve’s “optimal number” (once this number is reached, some rhinos are helicoptered into other areas to prevent overgrazing). Reportedly, it’s comparable to the quick sting of getting one’s ear’s pierced.

Though many private game reserves in Africa now implement darting as a means to control local rhino populations, Phinda is the only one that runs darting trips for travelers. The four-day safaris are usually tacked onto longer stays at the property. According to Krieger, a veteran safari-goer who, prior to her darting adventure, had been to the Dark Continent four times: “I’ve seen the stunning plains of Botswana and East Africa. Phinda, though, is just as wild, vast and untouched.” Accommodations comprise six different lodges as well as a mobile camp for those interested in walking safaris. The largest and most indulgent is Getty House, a four-bedroom “villa” owned by Tara Getty (John Paul’s grandson) that comes with a private chef and butler as well as nanny quarters.

More squeamish travelers should note that while the darting isn’t exactly a gentle procedure, there is a happy ending—both in the long and short run. For another participant, the best part was the post-notching period: “the vet yelled ‘antidote’ [and an antidote was injected] and we all scattered. Within minutes, the rhino was up, looking unphased and joining the herd as if nothing had happened.”

Phinda rhino darting safaris from R 14 985 (about $319)/safari (excluding accommodations).

Read Friends in South Africa, a postcard on Krista Krieger’s trip.

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The Ultimate Elephant Rescue Program

From Tiffany Schauer, July 3, 2008

Our crew drove back to Chiang Mai. The road trip back was filled with sights of interest and terrain varying from jungle dirt roads, long highways and finally city traffic. Driving is worth the trip—with a seasoned driver and good car company. I was blessed with both. After passing through Mae Sot, we stopped at a coffee shack by the side of the road and what seemed to be a hill tribe market. The coffee is grown in the mountains nearby and roasted on site. The coffee had the properties of high-mountain grown beans. I’m a coffee fiend and this and was some of the best I’ve tasted. Most of the coffee produced in this region is exported thus it is surprisingly difficult to score a cup regularly–well, basically impossible except for this random coffee stand. The hill tribe market women and children were selling fried bugs, fresh fruits and vegetables, regional delicacies and some hill tribe garb. These people are gorgeous looking to me. Their clothes evidence a splendor that stops me–humble and elegant, organic and regal.

After a quick sleep in Chiang Mai Rachamankha Hotel, I visited the Elephant Nature Park. To me, this was the equivalent of an Elephant Refugee camp with a road map for a hopeful future. The Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary for Asian elephants located in the Mae Taeng Valley about one-and-a-half-hour drive from Chiang Mai. Established in 1995 by Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, this camp is a tribute to one individual’s quest to free an enslaved species from torture and inhumane conditions. Lek is the “elephant whisperer.” Lek was awarded the Time Magazine Asia Hero of the Year in 2005 for her work with elephants. She has also been the subject of National Geographic, Discovery Channel and BBC coverage.

There are only 4,000 Asian elephants left here. Elephants living at the sanctuary are named and their history of abuse is documented on paper as well as on their bodies. One elephant was blinded when stabbed in the eyes for collapsing after its newborn baby died during work hours. Another elephant was drug addicted after years of being force fed amphetamines to work longer hours. Moreover, all baby Asian elephants are ritualistic tortured by being put in a “stocks” like contraption for as long as week while being repeatedly kicked, stabbed with spears with nails sticking out and knives to break their spirit and force them to act on command. The villagers that own the elephants rely on these animals to work for their livelihood: once for logging, now for other labor, such as trekking and tourism. Please be aware that elephant shows, including elephant painting involve torturing the animal to act on cue. The agonizing “initiating” abuse of the elephants has long been a tradition in this culture—considered essential for human economic survival and seemingly some sort of rite of passage for the elephants. While these practices continue, Lek relentlessly bears compassionate witness to these historical cultural practices while steadily providing alternatives for the elephant owners. Her organization provides free vet care, medicine, and sometimes housing for all sick elephants in the area. She is also single handedly demonstrating to her culture that “free elephants” can also provide an economic solution for local people. Lek’s camp is an example of an economically sustainable eco-tourism concept while incorporating care, awareness, and preservation of this fast disappearing species.

With the above said, there is nothing to adequately describe a trip to this “park.” As a guest of the park, I was able to feed, walk, and bathe with the elephants. Getting close enough to a massive elephant to examine its eyelashes is an astounding experience. Perhaps even more astounding was the moment when I was lounging on the river bank beach during the elephant’s morning bath, and unscheduled fireworks from a nearby village funeral “spooked” the elephants, causing a potential elephant “stampede.” I enjoyed the adrenaline rush as I instantly understood the power and cannon-like force of these creatures—after the stampede was deterred by their trainers and my heart had stopped pounding.

The park not only offers guest day trips, but also overnight trips into the mountains to sleep in the jungle while the elephants roam, as well as short-term and long-term stays to volunteer to contribute to the operations of the park.

Most of the elephant trainers seem to be Burmese and the guides mostly Thai. Every single person I came across employed by or volunteering for this camp was hard-working, lively, happy for their job and IN LOVE with the elephants. It is, indeed, a “heavenly place.” Lek is a maverick and a role model. Her organization is exemplary and the face of the future if we are to preserve what is disappearing and choose to move our world forward. She needs more land and the camp needs support. If you love animals, go visit the park. I can’t imagine a more meaningful experience for a child–they may be the last generation to see these prehistoric creatures. And or donate to Lek’s park. Traveling out of the elephant park, I see the numerous elephant working camps, elephant trekking operations, wandering buffalo and graduated mountains covered with green. My perception of what I see now is altered having visited Lek’s camp and learning about the plight of the elephants and their owners. I am informed, aware and changed.

Read more dispatches from Tiffany about her Thai aid mission.

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