Elephant Nature Park

We finally arrived to a place Mark had dreamed of visiting for years. His love for these wonderful creatures has lead us to an amazing place. We weren't 100% sure what to expect but the experience totally blew us away. 

When we first arrived we walk around the building seeing elephants freely roaming in the fields. Then it was feeding time. The mahouts brought the elephants up to the main building for us to hand feed them. The look of awe and happiness on Mark and the kids face was priceless. We stood feeding them for ages and just watching them.

After feed time we got to go for a walk with the elephants. What that basically meant was we wandered about with our guide through the fields meeting all the different groups of elephants. It was slightly daunting walking next to these giant creatures. I was a little worried, especially when the guide said if he said 'run' he meant it and run really really fast. I asked him how often he had to say run and so far he hasn't had too. I did keep a very close eye on the kids. It was such an experience for them. The elephants had such personalities, some where social others just wanted food and some just ignored us.

Our accomodation was this elevated bungalow that over looked the night time yards of the herd. That night we went to sleep listening to the sounds of the elephants.  We were up very early to go down to the yards and see the what the elephants were up to.

 The nature park is set in this beautiful lush green area surrounded by a few farms and some sense forest. Such a gorgeous area after being in busy Phuket and Chiang Mia.

We went for a walk again with the elephants. Such a chore all this walking around ;). This time we met a few of the babies. That was pretty special. The kids especially loved the babies. We did have to be careful though as they were very playful and also very strong!!

We wandered down and watched a group of the elephants bathing in the river. They looked so happy and content. Very very different to the elephants in a lot of the tourist camps.  ENP was set up as a sanctuary for rescued elephants mainly from the tourist and logging areas.They have spent a lot of time and effort working out small 'family' herds that are kept together.

One of the highlights of our time here was getting in the river with the elephants and bathing them. Of course we all got soaking wet and a large water fight erupted.  Unfortunately Mark got a little over excited during the washing of the elephant and hurt his back, oops.

That night we all had a traditional dinner seated in the floor on the upper deck of the main building. Some local children came to entertain us and we had a wonderful time. The food was a little different and a tad too spicy for the kids. 

Of course my favourite part was photographing these fabulous creatures. The look in their eyes was so knowledgable. They seemed so aware and sensitive to everything around them. It's hard to grasp how some trainers and mahouts could ever treat these creatures cruely.

We met some really great mahouts and guides. They were such characters with many entertaining stories to tell. They really seemed to love their job and truly cared about the elephants.

The elephants are pretty food obsessed, as soon as they caught a whiff of a banana they were your new best friend!!

The Elephant Nature Park was started by an amazing lady called Lek. We have read many articles about this lady and she has won many an environmental awards. We were incredibly lucky to get to meet her on our last day there.. She is this tiny Thai lady with such kindess and passion for elephants. The work she and her team do for rescued elephants is truly inspiring.

Another walk and many more photos.

As you can probably tell from the abundance of photos, we really did have a wonderful few days at ENP.  It was wonderful to see the elephants so well cared for and looked after.  It was a very education experience aswell.  We spoke a lot about the effect humans can have on other creatures.  Mark watch a particularly graphic video they showed how elephants are treated at some establishments and by their mahouts.  The kids and I didn't watch it, wasn't suitable at all.  You can volunteer from 12 years old for a week or so at a time.  Mark has promised to take the kids back when they are old enough and will do some volunteer work there.  So we bid a sad fairwell to ENP, but I do expect some of us will be back.