Rumbles, roars and chirps erupted at around 12:15 a.m. on August 25th breaking the midnight silence, announcing the arrival of a new born calf. Stirred to consciousness by the vocalizations, bleary eyed ENP staff sprung from their beds. Grabbing flashlights and cameras, they rushed to the elephant shelters to catch a glimpse of the newest member of our herd.
A new and long-awaited activity has finally begun here at Elephant Nature Park. The different social groups within our herd are taking turns going up to the jungle. The mountainside behind the mahout village is thick with the various jungle…
There are many social groups within our herd of elephants who reside at Elephant Nature Park. For some, we never know what tomorrow will bring, while others have a rather predictable routine. Read on and you will have a glimpse into their complex relationships …
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dok Mai plays with new aunties Faa Sai, Faa Mai and Tong Jaan
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.
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.
Being a mahout at Elephant Nature Park is quite different than being a mahout elsewhere. We encourage our mahouts to let the elephants do what they want and not intervene unless it is necessary. If they have prior experience working…
April is a month of festivity for us here at Elephant Nature Park. Songkran, the Buddhist new year, followed by Faa Mai’s birthday along with ENP’s 10-year anniversary are cause of great celebration. Thanks to Dok Ngern and the wonders of nature, we now have yet another reason to be filled with happiness and merriment this year — the arrival of Dok Mai.
We do not often advertise the possibly pregnant females who are roaming about the park. Since the gestation period is from 18 to 22 months, the build up of waiting and excitement can drive you crazy. Here at Elephant Nature Park, based on activities witnessed on several occasions, we had a feeling that a few of our females were most likely expecting.
After the birth of Navann in late October, we started to pay much more attention to the bellies, breasts and behavior of our ladies who have been reproductively active in the past two years.
Oh, to be an elephant … to fully understand their conversations and body language. They know exactly what is going on with each other and who will give birth when.
We, on the other hand, can just wait.
This time, they tricked us.