This was our second visit to see the elephants at BLES and we were keen to meet the new arrivals since our last visit almost two years ago to the day. We were met at the airport by one of the staff proudly carrying the BLES Elephant Sanctuary sign.
The drive from the airport takes around one hour, and we were soon familiar with the places en-route. We arrived at BLES to the usual Elephant welcoming party of Wassana, Pang Dow and Lotus (a.k.a The Gossip Girls) patiently waiting for us to arrive so we could accompany them on their daily walk. It was great to be so close to them again and be part of their daily routine. The change the sanctuary has made since our last visit was noticeable, the 16 Elephants now have much more land to be able to wander freely and be safe, and special enclosures where they are housed at night, both for their own and the community’s safety.
We were able to watch them take mud baths, some singly and some in pairs, indulging in some mutual mud splattering, just an amazing experience. The sanctuary has rescued Elephants from all over Thailand, and it is great to see them having the freedom and care they deserve. I have had many clients request I book them excursions to go Elephant riding, but it is something I just won’t do. There is no great experience to be gained riding an Elephant, the Elephant certainly doesn’t enjoy it. At BLES we are able to walk with them, feed them, and just generally be around them, because they allow us to, and they want to interact with us. It’s a great feeling to have something that size, just creep up on you (yes Elephants can creep up on you unnoticed) and just move its trunk for some contact, and just as quickly turn around and dismiss you out of hand.
We were so pleased to also see the young male Elephant Mee Chok coming along so very well. On our last visit he was very sick, with an infected tusk, but thanks to successful surgery, he is now recovering well and spends much of his time in the company of Tong Jai the imposing Bull Elephant, who soon puts him in his place if he gets too boisterous, we sat for hours just to watch their interactions, and to see what the little elephant was learning from his older, wiser friend.
Anon, Tong Jai's Mahout, let us spend a little time with this immense elephant, observing him closely, watching him feed and gently curl his trunk between his huge tusks.
Amazing to just be within a few feet of him.
The days there are not just spent with the elephants, there is much work needed to keep them fed, and one afternoon we accompanied the other Mahouts to a nearby cornfield on the back of the sanctuaries' truck. We proceeded to clear a small section of the field and load it onto the truck, it was hot work in the afternoon sun, and the Mahouts cut down coconuts from a nearby tree so we could all have a drink after our hard work. The corn was only a snack for the elephants, and the truckload would be all eaten within the hour.
On our final morning we accompanied Katherine with the elephants on the walk, and we managed to spend some time with all the elephants living at the sanctuary, watched them bathe in the mud pools and generally enjoy life being an elephant.
In the evening one of the staff was leaving on a trip to Europe so the Mahouts decided to have a bit of a party and a send-off. So out came the decidedly dodgy local brew, and even though each of us couldn't’t understand a word of each other’s language, we had a great few hours, just relaxing and listening to the people whose lives are all about keeping these elephants safe. I don’t know what was in the local brew, but I thought I was fine until I tried to speak, I then discovered I was almost fluent in Thai, or so I thought!
Then all too soon it was time to leave, we had an early start to catch our flight back to Bangkok, and Katherine was there to wave us off. Once again, we had an amazing experience, being in the Thai jungle, no phone, no internet, no TV, just us and the Elephants.
Bliss@BLES
