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The art of Touching an Elephant

The majority of us are blessed with the gift of sight. We take it for granted, without thinking how very lucky we are.

Imagine for a moment not being able to see, relying only on hearing and touch. Imagine being born blind, therefore not having any mental images stored for descriptive reference.

Imagine traveling to a foreign land, where your native tongue is not spoken and venturing to a place where elephants roam free and you can experience them up close, learning about them through touch.

Would you be afraid? Would you be excited?

For two years in a row we have had a very special group of teenagers from the Korean Art Association for the Blind who travel all the way from Korea to visit Elephant Nature Park, staying two days. They come from the Chungju Seongmo School for the Blind and their tour is titled “Touching an Elephant.” These students are training to be artists and are learning to ‘see by touch’ so that they can create works of art in various mediums.

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Their stay at Elephant Nature Park included the group engaging in feeding the elephants, learning about them and having an up-close experience with Lek and Faa Mai.

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Baby elephant Navann’s family reunites

In our last post about Navann and his ever changing line up of doting aunties, Dao Tong had joined the group much to the dismay of Mae Jarunee, who moved off to the sidelines in an act of protest. Faa Mai, Faa Sai, Tong Jaan, even Mae Bua Tong and Chang Yim had been spending lots of time with Navann, causing Mae Keow and Dani to lose their confidence to approach the irresistible young bull. Malai Tong was quite busy between keeping Mae Jarunee company, checking in with Navann and flitting around like the social butterfly that she is catching up with old friends.

Navann covered in mud

What would happen next was anyone’s guess …

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Baby Elephant Mama Auntie Drama!

Things have changed yet again since our last update highlighting the Navann auntie situation, the biggest change being that new baby elephant Dok Mai and mum, Dok Ngern, are now also out roaming free all day. As a result of this new development, the junior aunties Faa Mai, Tong Jaan and Faa Sai are much more focused on Dok Mai and rarely wandering over to see Navann.

baby elephant dok mai and aunties

Dok Mai plays with new aunties Faa Sai, Faa Mai and Tong Jaan

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Baby elephant Navann causes auntie controversy

Who will really end up being baby elephant Navann’s aunties at Elephant Nature Park? At this moment it is anyone’s guess …

A few weeks ago we would have felt confident in saying that Mae Kham Paan was the recognized Number One Auntie and that Malai Tong and Mae Jarunee were a firm Number Two and Three. Mae Keow was a definite part-timer and recently Dani was even getting lots of quality time with Navann each morning.

Dao Tong at Elephant Nature Park

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Photo Essay: Founder Lek Chailert and Elephant Nature Park

Lek and the family herd at Elephant Nature Park

Since the foundation launched its new site and blog encompassing all of Lek’s projects in October 2012, we’ve aimed to provide our supporters not only with the latest news from her projects, but also entertaining and informative stories and photos about the animals we rescue.

Today, we’d like to share with you some of our favorite photos of Lek with you from the past year. These photos show just how amazing Lek and her bond with the animals in her life is.

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