The elephant is a very sacred and respected animal in Thailand as it is revered for it's distinct intelligence. Many local people we encountered wanted to make it known that Thai people traditionally consider the elephant to be equal to a human. Everywhere you look as you travel through Thailand, there seems to be an elephant motif. There are tiny metallic elephants embroidered on pillows, strings of elephants marching across table runners, elephants carved into teak wood, large, beaded, pearly elephants on wall hangings and imposing, mirrored elephant sculptures flanking entrances. While in Thailand, it seemed appropriate that we visit one of the many elephant "training camps" in and around Chiang Mai.
Chiang Dao , the particular elephant camp we visited is in the mountains north of Chiang Mai city and is home to 32 Asian elephants. Upon arrival, we crossed a swinging rope bridge stretching the length of a football field (much to Oteil's dismay) and began to see elephants of all sizes making their way down to the Ping river for their morning bath. Spattered across the green landscape were brilliant reds and yellows, as the "Flame of the Forest" trees were in full bloom. We slowly made our way across the bridge and, back on terra firma, walked for a few minutes through the forest and reached a clearing. Here, we were met by several baby elephants, flapping their ears and stretching their trunks in our direction. It is popular for visitors to purchase clusters of bananas to feed the elephants. For 20 baht a visitor can purchase 2 clusters, which the elephant would politely take from your outstretched hands with their deft trunk and swallow in one large gulp. One juvenile elephant was known to take the baht out of your hands, trot up to the banana stand and pay for his bananas himself. Ruchee, our guide, told us that a visitor once gave this baby elephant a random scrap of paper, trying to trick him into believing she was handing him a 20 baht note. The elephant, hip to her attempted deception, politely took the note, walked into the forest and threw it away.
I was taken aback by how human-like an Asian elephant's eyes are. A beautiful light amber hue, they peer out at you from behind large lashes and are strikingly different to that of an African elephants. Whether African or Asian, meeting their gaze, you feel that you are undoubtedly looking into the eyes of a sentient and highly intelligent being. We were regaled with many anecdotes demonstrating their intelligence when we visited the camp outside of Chiang Mai. Ruchee spoke to us about the tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004. Before the earthquake erupted under the Indian Ocean and the tsnumani hit on December 26th, Ruchee said the people of Chiang Mai could hear the elephants trumpeting loudly in the surrounding forests, late in the evening on the 25th. In southern Thailand, the elephants began to move to higher ground, with many other species of animals hot on their trail. According to Ruchee, the only animals "dumb enough" to stay behind were dogs and humans.
Considering the elephant's remarkable intelligence (they have been documented using tools, mourning and burying their dead, have complex, hyper-sensitive methods of communication and are self-aware - meaning they can recognize themselves in a mirror), I felt a bit morally conflicted about visiting an elephant "training camp". Although many Thai's insist that the elephant is on par with the human, placing saddles on their back for rides through the forest and having them perform tasks for the entertainment of tourists seems to speak otherwise. The camp was initially created to exhibit the elephant's skills in teak logging. After we slowly meandered through mountainous forest on the backs of these powerful animals, we made our way back to a makeshift stage at the center. All of the elephants marched into an expansive, dusty area and demonstrated their ability to pick up tree trunks and carry them from one place to another, to send a tree trunk flying across the "stage" with one explosive kick. They painted pictures and performed various other tricks, much to the delight of the other tourists. I just couldn't help but sit there feeling guilty that I had paid for this, and thus supported their exploitation. I'm not sure what I expected though.
I do want to include that the elephants at Chiang Dao all seemed to be in excellent health and psychologically sound. They spend their mornings "working" and the rest of the day and evenings, they are free to roam and live in their natural habitat. At the Thai's insistence, I really did want to believe that the elephant is an exceptionally respected animal in their country. Unfortunately, as is many species of animals across the world, they are targets for exploitation. Almost every evening we walked through Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar, we encountered a baby elephant, chained and slowly squeezing his way through the crowded streets. The babies are brought into the city to "raise money for the elephants" and there, they inevitably succumb to the harsh existence of the concrete jungle. Accustomed to the dappled light in the forest, they become blind from the unfilitered, blistering sunlight in the city. Used to the quiet of the forest, they become deaf from the overpowering city noises. In the wild, elephants will eat 300 to 500 pounds of vegetation a day. Fed pieces of sugar cane and clusters of bananas from tourists, their bodies waste away.
The elephants are such a ubiquitous part of Thai culture, their reverence for or lack there of seems to span the whole spectrum. I feel so fortunate to have been able to spend time with the elephants. Truly, a visit to Thailand would not be complete without it. Their gentle nature and kind, intelligent eyes really moved me. As humans, I feel that we must do all that we can to preserve this ancient, majestic species.
