top attractions in Chiang Mai

Elephant enrichment project

Through the years, we have had various enrichment toys for our elephants placed around the park. Many elephants make good use of the “toys,” while others pay little attention to them.

At the moment, we have a few elephants who are confined to their shelters while they are being treated for abscesses or foot problems. Once again, we have taken to creating enrichment toys to help ease their boredom while stimulating their sense of curiousity and problem solving.

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We roam around the park looking for tires, branches and discarded boxes that can be used safely. We take a trip to the jungle and cut off bamboo branches that have already been knocked down by elephants and find other plant life that might be interesting. We then snatch up bundles of elephant grass and banana leaves. From there we head to the elephant kitchen and find various fruits and veg that can also be stuffed into the boxes and tires.

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Now it is time to have fun and get creative!

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My Time at Elephant Nature Park

Editor’s Note: We’ve invited our intern, Sofiya, to contribute to Save Elephant Foundation’s blog and document her experiences with some of our projects.

For most of my life elephants and monkeys have been my favorite animals. You can imagine my excitement when I found out I was selected to intern at Save Elephant Foundation here in Chiang Mai, which meant I would be traveling to Thailand where my two favorite animals happily reside.

After a couple days settling into the office I had the opportunity to volunteer at the park. There are several different ways to visit Elephant Nature Park, from day visits and overnight stays to week-long volunteer opportunities. Since I arrived later in the week I missed the general tour and information which week-long volunteers receive at the beginning of their stay. Before I could join the volunteers in their duties, I was scheduled to walk around with the day visitors and familiarize myself with the park grounds as well as catch up on what I had missed.

At 8 a.m. I got picked up at the office with a group of day visitors and we embarked on an hour long ride to the park. In the van we had the opportunity to hear details about the park and were shown a documentary centered around Asian elephants and the park itself. Our day visit guide, Sai, was incredibly knowledgable, friendly and open to every and any question we had about the park and the elephants.

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The rescue of Lucky: one year later

One year ago a blind ex-circus elephant, who had been chained in her owner’s yard for the past three years, hit the jackpot … a truck pulled up, ready to take her on a 20+ hour journey that would end at ENP, where she would begin her new life. Little did she know it, but it was her lucky day. For once in her life, her name was fitting, for she was known as Lucky.

Lucky is a rescued elephant at Elephant Nature Park

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Knowledge is power: improving elephants’ futures

Education and knowledge are the keys to change. This is something we have learned over and over, not just with visitors who come to Thailand and to our projects, but also with other elephant camps.

When Erawan Elephant Retirement Park opened in July, 2013, Save Elephant Foundation was able to take five elephants from trekking camps, street begging and performance shows and move them to a new home … in retirement. Now, almost six months later, we are happy to report that these elephants are enjoying their freedom. This project came about because Lek worked hard to establish relationships with camps in Kanchanaburi and educate them on how to help their elephants lives become better.

An integral part to all of our projects is education that expands beyond just our world of visitors and volunteers. We continue to educate elephant camp owners and hope we can help improve their lives in captivity.

Over the past few years, we have had several camps open next to us at Elephant Nature Park.

The nearby trekking camp with their elephants. This is no longer their world, thanks to the hard work and education they have received from Lek and SEF about how to better their elephants lives.

The nearby trekking camp with their elephants. This is no longer their world, thanks to the hard work and education they have received from Lek and SEF about how to better their elephants lives.

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Owen Wilson, Lake Bell and more visit ENP

The past few months, Chiang Mai has played host to Hollywood, thanks to the filming of the action movie, “The Coup.”

Of course, no visit to Thailand’s second-largest city is complete without a trip up to Elephant Nature Park. We were fortunate to welcome stars Owen Wilson and Lake Bell, who play a married couple in the film, as well as actresses Claire Geare and Sterling Jerins, plus brothers film director John Erick Dowdle and producer Drew Dowdle.

The most beautiful part?

One visit to Lek and the elephants wasn’t enough!

Owen Wilson and Lake Bell visit Elephant Nature Park

Members of the cast and production team of “The Coup” visit Elephant Nature Park with Lek and Beau. L-R: John, Lake, Owen, Drew, Beau, Diana

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Spotlight: Grandma Auntie Mae Thai

Often overlooked, 60-something year old Mae Thai — a grandma auntie on the Faa Mai side of our largest family group — has been at Elephant Nature Park since December 2002. She became one of Tong Jaan’s aunties in late 2005, not long after Tong Jaan and Mae Bua Tong’s arrival. She has remained a loyal auntie to Tong Jaan ever since and has helped look after some of the new arrivals as well. Mae Thai’s protective nature sometimes gets the best of her. Though most of her fellow herd members are quite social and friendly with other elephants when they wander over to visit, Mae Thai will often try to chase them away!

Mae Thae at Elephant Nature Park

Thai (over Dok Mai) shares a precious moment with her family herd.

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Meet the Mahout: Navann’s Dam

One of the nicest, most competent and well known mahouts at the Elephant Nature Park is 36-year-old Dam. He is currently the mahout of Navann and Sri Prae. Dam comes from the Shan state of Burma (or Myanmar). About ten percent of our mahouts are Shan, who fled their homeland to escape persecution. Dam has been in Thailand for 15 years and has always worked as a mahout. His wife, Gayna, is also employed by ENP, and works in the kitchen. They have a beautiful 5-year-old daughter, Faa Sai. Dam is linguistically diverse and is fluent in Shan, Burmese, some Chinese, as well as Thai!

Dam stands with elephants at Elephant Nature Park

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Mae Tee stays determined

Dear old Mae Tee. At around 60 years old, she has an indomitable spirit. Against all odds, Mae Tee is roaming further and further afield with each passing day.

Mae Tee wanders from the medical center

Note how far behind Mae Tee the medical center is. Mae Tee really enjoys roaming far and wide.

She is enjoying fleeting interactive moments with Dok Mai, Dok Ngern and the other sociable members of that extended family group. She sometimes has pushing matches with Chang Yim.

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Mintra blesses us with a baby boy – welcome Yin Dee!!!!

The new baby elephant, Yin Dee

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.

the baby elephant yindee

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