It's taken a while to blog about my venturous time in Thailand working on the Mahout Project (GoDifferently www.godifferently.com), due to just simply waiting for the experience to fully sink in. It was a true eye opener not just how beautiful these gentle giants are, but also the length in which humans have gone to minimise their already confined habitat.
The ceremony was a great welcome to the camp, the Mahouts and the Chief Mahout would offer rice, orange juice (I believe this was fanta lol) and another red drink around the skin of a pig's head...yes, you read that right. All I was thinking as a borderline veggie was, 'are we going to have to eat that to be polite?' - luckily, it was for the dogs after we were wished the best of health to us and our family during our time with them...phew!
The 5-day visit consisted of us getting to know our Mahout and their elephant before assisting in elephant-care duties, my elephant was call Bung-Mi who I deeply fell in love with from the moment I saw her. It's incredible to see how large they are in person yet they are so gentle and slow moving almost as if to be careful not to hurt you. Even though these elephants were trained for generations through the Mahout families, they still had a little bit of wildness in their eyes & swag (yes, elephants have swag it's true).
Once I got to know Bung-Mi, I was able to take her grazing to a neighbouring field no bigger than a training football pitch where there was bottles and rubbish scattered amongst the dull green grass. We spent some of the morning cleaning the rubbish as couldn't bare for a wild animal which was already restricted so such a confined habitat, to have to endure human polluting as well.
The best part of each day, was the showers! Due to a property developer actually having bought the river situated a few hundred yards from the Mahout camp, the elephants couldn't bathe or cool off there so it was down to a hose and some commitment from the Mahouts to shower them down. I couldn't believe it when I heard the elephants couldn't use the river, it was so close yet someone was greedy enough to purchase this land and the neighbouring green field to eventually build a hotel complex next to the Mahout camp.
This will increase the elephant 'tours' whereby tourists sit on a chair on top of the elephant's spine which results in deformity of the spine instead of actually caring and getting to know the elephant...it was beyond my understanding!
Just watching, caring and being around these animals was a huge privilege. Understanding what's happening and why elephants have to be looked after in a camp in Thailand (and other parts of the world) was a true eye opener. The more volunteers go, the more you can tell the Mahouts what you'd like to do with your elephant such as: walking to a greener field and allowing them to enjoy the tropical forest as oppose to a dry field, cutting grass for your elephant 30 mins away because the field wasn't producing enough and stating that you do not wish your elephant to wear the chair when you're around.
One of the highlights was having dinner at the camp with the Mahout and their family. The family cooked a full-on meal in their little Mahout hut fully equipped with cooking utensils & a TV!! We got to know them well and looked through family photographs; it was a binding moment between cultures & familes that I won't forget. Such fantastic hosts and felt touched that they welcomed us into their home for one evening.
It was a sad moment saying goodbye to beautiful wise Bung-Mi (54 years old!) and I will continue to spread the word that property development across the globe (not just in London) has gone nuts and that there is a fine line to be drawn....I might have to go back and draw it one day!
Thanks for reading, spread the word about volunteering to work with the elephants; www.godifferently.com were a great match for us to go through. Make your stamp on nature too :)
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