The explotation of elephants in some places is quite disturbing, so the decision to visit Ran Tong Elephant Park was not one I took lightly. It was organised for us via Joy’s House. They confirmed that the elephants here are not forced to do tricks, they do not use seats or spikes and the mahuts that care for the elephants are encouraged to respect their charges.
Ran Tong – Save and Rescue Elephant Park is located about an hour out of Chiang Mai, however we had an early twenties Thai man with a large cowboy hat on driving us…so I think it took about 40 minutes…we were doing speeds up to 130km/hr…the GPS system mounted on the windscreen confirmed it. If we were in a low sports car or maybe even a new model sedan, I may have felt comfortable, however I was in the back corner of a not very new minivan, with not much leg room and the wheel arch under one foot, oh there were no seatbelts either, they had been removed at some point…so I felt much less than comfortable…but thankfully we made it in one piece!
We were joined on this adventure by our guide, Adham, a local fellow clearly very energetic…and 9 other guests: a retired couple from the UK; a solo girl also from the UK; two young couples from Brasil, who looked very similar, down to the pearl earrings, but were not travelling together and had only met today; and a couple from Amsterdam. It was a very quiet trip in the way out, though we all warmed up once we were there…and off that bus…
After a walk down the side of the mountain into a valley (which I dreaded the thought of having to walk back out at the end, but decided not to think about that again until I had too)…
we were introduced to a few of the elephants and taught how to feed them bananas and rice…
then taught a few word commands, though we were also reminded that elephants are very intelligent animals with minds of their own and they will do what they want when they want, though they may listen to their mahut occasionally. It was then time to get dressed, to look the part…
we were given traditional Thai massage style pants and what looked like mexican poncho tops, they were surprisingly comfy and I would later be very grateful that I didn’t have my own clothes on or have to wash these…
It was then time to meet our elephant for the day…a lovely 37 year old girl named Suriya and her Mahut, Cheko. She was gentle and even though I think all elephants look a little bit sad, she seemed happy and had a very close relationship with Cheko. Getting on wasn’t too hard, though hanging on was clearly important as as soon as Dave was in, she stood up…and she was very tall…
Suriya went for a walk out of the main area and off across a dry field, towards to creek where she found some bamboo shoots to eat and Cheko picked some fruit for her. Dave found sitting at the front too uncomfortable for his hips and knees, so we swapped around…I much preferred the front. Cheko hand me the fruit he had collected and Suriya reached up take it.
After a little while, she decided she was a bit hot and decided it was time to cool off and protect herself from the heat and the blood sucking flies…she wanted a mud shower, so she had one…sucking up muddy water in her trunk and spraying it up under her belly and on her sides…needless to say, we get a bit muddy too… One of the other elephants did the same, but the others were spared.
When she was ready Suriya made her way back to the main area and dropped us off for some lunch. We had a tasty noodle soup with a piece of chicken and a banana…this gave us time to get to know the other guests a bit more…I was surprised to learn that in many countries, annual leave rules are very strict and if you want more than 2-3 weeks off in a row, you basically have to resign from your job…
Our break was long enough for Dave to regain some movement in his hips and knees, so he decided to get back on for another walk, the time up the side of the mountain and along the ridge. It was a bit scary when Suriya decided she wanted to eat some of the leaves of a particular tree tht was growing a few feet below the path…she stepped down to reach it…I was very glad I was holding on at that point…
Once we had reached the end if the ridge, we caught up with those who had taken the lower path and made our way down, back towards the main area, however we kept going down to the big pond, where it was time to really cool off and have a swim/bath with Suriya. Dismounting in spectacular style, Dave ‘s backward roll off Suriya’s back was quite entertaining and thankfully was captured on still and video photage.
Suriya took us back up to where we started and it was time to say ‘thank-you’, get changed into our clean, dry clothes and head off…though like any good tourist trap, not with visiting the gift stalls on the way out. I bought a little bead bracelet with elephants on it and we bought a CD of photos that had been captured of us throughout the day. Our journey out was very easy, just a stroll across the dry rice fields, over the bridge and through the village to where our crazy cowboy chauffeur was waiting to zoom us back to the house…
It was a truly wonderful day…