A Story for those Readers who like Elephants — part one.

Driving around a bend tonight, I saw a red light flashing in front of me. It was fixed to the tail of an elephant. He was quite a big beast so I’m glad I had some warning as I approached. Even if Thais themselves ignore this safe driving practice, always drive in Thailand at a speed that allows you to pull up within the space that you can see ahead of you.

Elephants can often be seen at night in Thailand.

In the evening, the mahout will lead his elephant to local restaurants, or places where tourists congregate. The patrons, Thai and farang, usually give generously.

Sadly, that perpetuates a dangerous and often cruel practice of bringing elephants into crowded areas. The mahout is looking for gifts of money. He will sell you sugar cane to feed the animal. If you pay him, he’ll let you take photographs. Too much sugar can, in any case, make elephants hyperactive.

The practice is being discouraged because of the risks involved but the regulations are not often enforced by the police.

Elephants in a sanctuary at the foot of the mountains of Chiang Mai.

The best way to interact with these creatures is to visit the sanctuaries where they are well looked after and don’t have to parade on the streets or perform at circus-like shows. Always more interesting to see them behaving naturally in safe conditions.

National Elephant Day attracts more Thais than tourists and is popular with adults and children alike. Entry to the parks is generally free for children on that one day in the year. There is much to watch and enjoy.

An elephant show. Is it degrading or are the elephants enjoying themselves?

In the Old Days.

Traditionally, elephants were used by the logging companies to push and pull the timber from the teak forests to the rivers. Five or six elephants would work together to roll the logs and to un-block any logjams that occurred on the rivers. In the mid nineteenth century, there were about 100,000 working elephants. No figures are available for the wild elephants that were not used as beasts of burden.

An elephant loading logs brought up from the river.

Pulling a log that has been felled out of the river ready for loading.

Today deforestation is strictly controlled and, apart from around 3000 wild elephants roaming the forests, elephants are mainly found in tourist parks and zoos. They are a protected species and are generally well cared for. They have been trained to play in an elephant football team, kicking around a very large football.

Some have taken a brush in their mouths and tried their skills in painting on canvas. Opinion is divided on whether training elephants in this way is demeaning or whether they enjoy exercising their brains.

The mahout has to direct the elephant where to paint. It’s not spontaneous.

Visitors can take short rides or can go on treks that cover greater distances. These treks can be an enjoyable day out. One sees much of the countryside that is not visible from the tourist coaches.

Trekking across a river.

Some parks allow you to get very close to the elephants and encourage you to help bathe and care for them, under the supervision of the mahout. There are elephant hospitals that you can visit. This photo shows one we visited in Lampang.

A mahout stays with his charge throughout the elephant’s life and a bond develops between them. Despite that, some mahouts do get killed, particularly when the bull elephant is “in must,” and experiences a surge in hormones. They can get extremely violent to humans and other elephants alike.

In part two, I describe a full day I spent with an elephant named Naam. I rode her, washed her, and I learned much about elephants when I was with her. We established a real bond.