Last month I had the privilege of meeting Meta the Elephant. She lives at the Elephant Peace Project in Chiang Rai, Thailand along with two other elephants. This organization is run by DADA who is an indigenous Karen tribal member and who advocates for the humane treatment and care of elephants as traditionally practiced by her ancestors. DADA has lived with elephants all her life as have numerous generations of her family. Living with elephants is a tradition and way of life of the Karen.
The elephants are allowed to roam untethered throughout the property and they do not engage in work or hard labor for a living. They are lovingly cared for, bathed, and fed throughout the day. The amount of food that they eat per day is massive and they are destructive as they go about gathering their own food. As a result their diets have to be supplemented with food that is bought by the organization.
The feel of the trunk of an elephant as she removed food from my hand is nothing like anything I have ever felt before. The trunk is a powerful life force onto itself and the work that it can do by gripping and pulling is amazing. I was in complete awe. But perhaps the most surprising thing to me about the elephant was their skin. It felt leathery and rough from all the mud that they threw on themselves until we bathed them. Then, with all the dirt and mud removed, their skin felt as smooth as a newborn baby’s butt! Oh, and did you know, that elephant’s store water at the top of their trunk basically between their eyes!
Elephants are intelligent creatures and their command of the language used by the Mahout is astounding. Here are just a few of the words that an elephant knows as sounded out in English:
Word Meaning
How Stop
Pei Pei Come with me
Bun Bun Eat
Buuuun Drink
Chol Sigh Go to the left
Chol Qwa Go to the right
Chol Toy Backup
Hwe Hwe Walk Forward
Lupe Stand Up
We had a great day hiking with the elephants, being educated about them and feeding them different foods throughout the day. We urge you to support the Elephant Peace Project to help feed these gentle giant eating machines. Contributions can be made via the Elephant Peace Project website. Here is the link:
You Should Be A Traveling Fool2.com 