Elephants in Chiang Mai!

If you visit The Elephant Nature Park, North of Chiang Mai, Thailand you will experience a perspective shift. At the Elephant Nature Park, a woman named Lek (little woman, big heart) rescues abused elephants from Thailand and neighboring countries and provides them with acres and acres of land to roam. The land includes feeding areas, an elephant hospital, a river running through the property, and hills for the elephants to "get back to nature".

Most of the elephants at the Nature Park are domesticated. They were rescued from a life of street performance in polluted cities and lives as elephant loggers where they were often mutilated and some, blinded. A true elephant whisperer, Lek walks and sits with them as if she were part of the family.

Before visiting the Elephant Nature Park, I did not understand the process of creating a domesticated elephant. Baby elephants are put into cages, beaten, poked, prodded, and scarred so  that they will be submissive to their masters. They are used for profit and often lead lives of misery. They are the elephants you often see in circus shows or on the streets in SE Asia.The Elephant Nature Park is an alternative 'eco-tourist' option for people who want to observe and love elephants, rather than participating in demanding and abusive tours.

To visit the Elephant Nature Park it will cost you around 70 dollars, but worth every penny. The 70 dollars goes toward feeding and caring for the 34 elephants in the park. During your visit, you will feed, bath and watch elephants play together and in the river. For hours, I stood at the base of the camp and just observed the elephants with their elephant friends while listening to my IPod, making my own elephant nature video in my head. It was like watching enormous dogs lumber over acres of land, or like hanging out with dinosaurs in my own backyard. The experience was amazing! At the end of the day, I was soaked with river water and elephant slobber, but it was all worth it because I was inspired by one woman's effort to live and work for these large, beautiful animals.

I like to meet people who are World Changers, and I feel like my job allows me to do so, but this time the World Changer wasn't in my classroom, but in Northern Thailand.

If you would like to visit or volunteer at the Elepahnt Nature Park, please visit this website:
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/