I love elephants. I think they are so gorgeous, gentle and majestic. So you can imagine how excited I was to find out that my ISV Volunteer Program was at an elephant park. I didn’t do much research before going, and I was so excited that I was going to, amongst other things, ride an elephant! But, boy, I couldn’t have been more wrong. As it turned out, riding an elephant was the very last thing I should have wanted to do. You see, what I didn’t realise is that to get these beautiful creatures to take human riders, perform tricks and do anything they wouldn’t normally do in the wild, they have to be tortured. Elephants that are used for tourism (females) and logging (males) are ‘conditioned’ to carry human riders and do their jobs. They are poked and prodded, yelled at, shoved into a crush (a tiny pen) where they are stabbed, jumped on, slashed, hit and abused. Then once all this initial torture is over, their mahout (elephant keeper) will have an axe or a hook constantly present, ready to ‘remind’ the elephant to stay in line.
As we hopped on the shuttle bus to take us from the Elephant Nature Park (ENP) head office in central Chiang Mai to the ENP Park, we were showed an eye opening video about Elephants, their REAL use in Thailand, the gruesome truth behind the ivory trade and finally ENP and the work they do. You see, ENP aren’t like the dozens of other parks that exist, the parks that have the sole mission to bring in profit by giving the misguided tourists what they want – rides, entertainment and more. ENP is the premier park that rescues and rehabilitates these tortured creatures, and allows them to live a normal life – free from human torture.
Lek Chailert founded ENP to rescue elephants from trade and tourism industries, and later began to rescue dogs and cats that were abandoned thai tsunami. She and her work is truly amazing, though unfortunately not widely accepted. She has had to deal with threats, protest and many hinderances to her mission, from all those who believe she shouldn’t be working against the status quo.
The park is home to over 30 elephants, most of 
who were rescued, and a couple that were born there. The elephants are free to roam, and are cared for by their mahouts (who unlike the others in the industry use nothing but tone of voice to keep elephants in line). Elephants will come past the viewing balcony all day for tourists to get a closer look, and at 11am they can even feed them. At 1pm and 4pm tourists can bathe the elephants in the river that runs along the property. The elephants are truly happy here and that in itself is more rewarding, and watching them is more entertaining then riding an elephant ever would have been.
Anyone can volunteer at the park, for a day or for weeks. Go to their website to check out more: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/about/about-us/
Whilst volunteering you get to learn more about the park, Lek, and each of the elephants
including their behaviour, nature and personality. The experience is one unlike any other, and is a must for anyone travelling to Thailand. And at the very least, even if you cannot visit them at the park, please do not fund the horrific elephant activity by riding elephants, going to elephant shows or even paying to see them do tricks on the street. Because don’t be fooled, none of your money goes to the elephants, it goes to the profit hungry people that own them. All your money is buying is torture for the elephants. And these beautiful creatures don’t deserve to be harmed.
Global Passenger 