A Visit to Singapore and Phuket (Aug 2019)

Elephant Sanctuary

By Marla Laine Brown:

Just outside of Phuket is the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary where we had an opportunity to dedicate our time in the caring of these gentle beasts. There are about 9 of these retirement parks in Thailand.

Upon arrival at the sanctuary we were led into a shaded encampment with picnic tables and an area to choose our colorful Karen cloth or traditional hand woven ponchos. There was also a section to buy elephant trinkets.

Shortly after being seated we began our immersion course into what I dubbed “Elephant Handling 101” and were educated about the 8,000 remaining elephants out of the 100,00 that once roamed Thailand. We also discussed the abuse of these animals for the benefit of tourism, such as the circuses and riding camps, as well as the purpose of this camp which is to rescue these elephants and place them in sanctuary. Today more people visit these rescue sanctuaries than riding camps.

Next in preparation for the care of these animals we were introduced to a few of the camps 50 female elephants, males are too aggressive, ranging in age from 41 to 74 years old. The elephant handlers humored us on their different personalities such as which ones were social and which ones weren’t. Just like people.

We then prepared the elephant’s food, which was some type of mush that we rolled into balls. There were also previously prepared baskets of sliced watermelon and sugarcane.

Right before feeding time it started to rain….. well pour, but that didn’t deter our altruistic souls from hosting their lunch and thankfully we had brought the recommended rain jackets.

Next we suited up for the elephant’s bath which is basically a large mud pit. A group of us descended into a this hole while filling up buckets with sludge to smear on our pachyderms wrinkled skin. At some point dirt clods went flying, which I suppose is expected when half naked adults play in the mud. Allan then made a joke about mud wrestling at a frat party or a food fight or something… which got a good chuckle.

There were about 4 elephants in the pit with us and the possibility of being crushed to death was an ever present possibility. I kept falling to the rear of the animal and the words of the elephant handler to “Stay away from the hind legs, …. that’s where they’ll kick!” kept racing through my head. I found it difficult to move in the pit though because my feet kept sinking in the muck. At one point I locked eyes with the woman next to me and said something like ……. “I don’t want to die today!” Shortly thereafter we were able to help each other away from the danger zone.

After mud wrestling with our pachyderm friends we were eager to hose them as well as ourselves off near the elephant’s shower. I wondered what else, such as elephant poop, may have been smeared on our bodies during this activity and decided it was best not to dwell.

Speaking of elephant poop and before leaving the encampment for the day we were shown how the elephants waste is recycled. About 60 percent of the poop is used for fertilizer which is given to the villagers. The villagers in return grow food for the elephants whom eat about 100 pounds a day, which is sold to the sanctuary at a reduced cost. Another 30 percent of the waste product is used to produce paper which is sold to the local schools and shops.

What an amazing day!