An Elephant I'll Never Forget!

14^th November

Today was the big day, literally. At 9.15am we were off on a Mahout training course. For those who don't know, a Mahout is an elephant keeper/trainer/driver and Rory and I decided to be one, at least for the day. When we arrived at the camp we were kitted out in a Mahout uniform and promptly directed to our elephant. For the first half an hour or so, we rode in a howda, a seat fixed to the elephants back. Then, using only sign language and plenty of smiles, our Mahout told Rory to swap places with him and before I knew it, Rory was riding on the actual elephant! 

When Rory had finished navigating the treacherous jungle, it was my turn. I wasn't so keen but I didn't want to look like a wuss, so I slid on to the elephants neck with a big smile on my face.

I don't know if you've ever tried riding an elephant, but it's not as easy as it looks. For a start there's nothing to hold on to. They're also nothing like a horse and they move in a completely different way, rocking from side to side in such a way that if you stop trying to balance for even a second, you will fall off. So what you do is straddle this monsters neck, keeping your balance by moving with them and placing your hands on top of their head! It's a very strange sensation but once you get used to it, then comes the really hard part – going downhill.

I hadn't even thought about this, but we were on an elephant trek through the jungle and the jungle is pretty hilly. Going up isn't too difficult, you can lean forward and you climb with the elephant but going down is truly terrifying. As I've already mentioned, there's nothing to hold on to, so when an elephant starts its descent you are pretty much facing the ground and the only thing keeping you from being on the ground is your two little hands, resting firmly on the elephants head, pushing down in an attempt to stop you from sliding off. I also didn't realise that there's no such thing as baby steps in the elephant world. When an elephant steps down a steep hillside, they take huge elephant steps, meaning that you are suddenly falling face forward, two feet at a time. By the end of our first hour long ride I was ready to give up completely. I genuinely feared for my life.

But, once again, I didn't want to look like a wuss, so I stuck it out. I was given a different elephant this time and she was stubborn to say the least. We'd learnt a few commands at lunch (pai means go, how means stop) and this time I was the only one riding the elephant while the Mahout walked nearby. In theory this sounded lovely, however, my elephant had ideas of its own and decided that it wanted to go off the trail and so was talking off in the wrong direction, squeezing through trees and trampling shrubs. It was also stopping to eat said trees and shrubs, which in fairness was pretty cool to watch – they literally just pull trees out of the ground! Once that was taken care off it took a real strop and began growling, blowing its trunk and moving its head from side to side. I was getting increasingly worried and when I saw the Mahout trying and failing to guide the elephant, I genuinely thought I was going to be thrown off! At this point I'd been completely left behind and I just wanted to get back to camp. Eventually we did and I was greeted by a very worried Rory who had spent the last ten minutes thinking I'd been thrown off and killed by my grumpy elephant!

I really wasn't looking forward to the next elephant ride but I really wanted to bathe my elephant and the only way to get to the river was, of course, to ride the elephant down. So down I went, with no howda, just a mahout and an elephant. Eveen getting down the riverbank was scary but Dumbo (that was its actual name!) managed it and soon I was sitting on a fully submerged elephant! The bathing was really nice actually – the elephant just kept dunking us both under the water and while mine couldn't blow water our of her trunk (nobody's perfect) I still had a really nice time! After our dip in the river we took the elephants deeper into the jungle where they're left overnight. These past two rides were actually very enjoyable, the elephant seemed more content and moved at a slow but steady pace. I still felt like death was a possibility but perhaps an accidental-possibility, rather than a premeditated-throwing-off-and-trampling-death.

The bathing and final treks were my favourite of the day but I also really enjoyed feeding the elephants – I thought they'd be more like the cartoon elephants who sneak into your pocket looking for peanuts. In reality mine just waited patiently while I handed bananas to her trunk and even directly into her mouth. They have MASSIVE tongues – super weird but also kind of cute. Throughout the day there was plenty of walking and we spent some time in the village with the locals, we even visited a school which was nice as the kids were only too happy to show off in front of us!

Now comes the serious part – how do I feel? I'm not completely sure. The elephants in this camp were formerly involved in logging, which means carrying and pulling trees around all day long. While they're still lugging lumps around, these lumps are tourists who pay well and so guarantee their welfare. Nobody wants to see an unhappy elephant, especially not when they're paying $70. The elephants also seemed well looked after and they had plenty of food, not only provided for them but also from the surrounding jungle. At night they have a chain tethered to one foot and this is then attached to a tree. The chain is fairly long so they can walk around during the night but not so far that they go missing. Ideally they wouldn't be tethered up at all but it seems that nothing is ideal, especially not in the tourism industry. At the start of the day when the elephant was wearing the howda I felt pretty uncomfortable and pretty awful for riding them but we were told that when you factor in their body size, they're carrying well below their capabilities, sort of like if we were carrying a small rucksack. I think we also visited on a busy day, so the elephants were doing a few treks which again isn't ideal. I had a nice experience and I'm glad I've done it but I don't think I'd do it again, partly because they are wild animals and I did feel fairly close to death at some points but also because there's no need to do it more than once. I'm not entirely sold on the idea but I think we got a pretty good company; there are definitely elephants who are in far worse positions than ours were. All in all, it was a nice day for Rory and I and hopefully for the elephants. I really enjoyed washing them and feeding them and while it was an experience riding on top of this giant, I don't think I'd do it again, I had mixed emotions about riding something for entertainment and at times it was pretty scary – I guess I'm getting careful in my old age!