Ratata-ta-ta-ta, here is a beautiful animal adventure between forest, rice fields and river: a week with elephants!
There are many farms in the north of Thailand where these magnificent pachyderms live. Thai people quickly understood what a financial windfall they could get from visitors ready to pay the equivalent of a few months’ salary to spend time with them. Is this bad for all that? Difficult to answer because many elephants destined to work in awful conditions or to be slaughtered find refuge there. This money from tourism guarantees them a quiet, safe life. Of course, it is advisable to find out beforehand about the reputation of these refuges, not all of them are trustworthy.
In a palm hut, surrounded by elephants: What can be better?
For my part, I have the chance to stay in one of these huts for a few days. I have to admit that this adventure is one of my fondest memories. I was all alone! I spent my evenings playing cards by torchlight with the mahouts and my days, from sunrise to sunset, with about fifteen imposing boarders.
Eating, bathing, scrubbing, walking, but also learning how to train them (gently and non-violently of course) kept me fully occupied. Dressed in smelly rags (an elephant smells a lot), I walked the trails, splashed in the rivers, prepared food for these majestic creatures.
Elephant farms: is it good or bad?
Yes, it is pure tourism and I repent, but it is also an adventure. Because it’s something to get so close, to discover this incredible power dominated by infinite tenderness. No, they are not in the wild and it is super easy to find them too cute when they are hunted, exploited, beaten and exterminated on this planet. It’s easy, it’s true, to fight them gently in the river with buckets of water, whereas in the wild they would kill me with a trick.
Despite all the criticism, I persist and sign. Among the residents were some severely injured elephants that would not have survived without the shelter. Others were reportedly sentenced to death for destroying crops or attacking farmers. I would prefer to work to preserve their territories, but this is a delicate political and ecological problem that I cannot solve, equipped only with my good will.
Elephant rescue tourism: dream or animal torture?
To make my admittedly modest but sincere contribution to the conservation of these noble creatures, I spent a week between spartan palm huts and rice noodle meals in the morning and evening.
On the programme: preparing meals for the pachyderms, baths in the river, training and daily walks to stretch my legs.
Tourists would visit this refuge only once a week for a ride on the back of an elephant. The elephants were not over-exploited and spent most of their time at rest. Some of the better trained elephants were sometimes also “rented out” to farmers for work in the forest.
Do you find this shocking? Unfortunately, it takes money for these refuges to survive. Elephant rides are the main source of income. Of course there are exhibitions and paid visits, but they require an organisation that not all farms can afford. Without this financial manna, the injured elephants would simply be killed.
Build on the reputation of the elephant farm before getting involved in the business
In summary, a visit or stay helps the organisations provide a safe, violence-free life for the elephants. This money is used for the care and protection of the animals. Imagine the price of a surgical operation on the foot of a pachyderm caught in a trap or injured by an anti-personnel mine when not everyone in this country has access to medical care. However, it is essential to ensure that these organisations are reputable and treat the elephants properly.
