Mahout Elephant Trainer

 

What could possibly be cooler than flying hundreds of meters above a rainforest?!  Well, I’m not sure I can compare the two, but today, Carolina and I went to an Elephant Training Camp, where for one day, we got to be mahout elephant trainers, and learn how to instruct elephants.

A few quick facts about elephants.  The elephant is Earth's largest land animal, although the Asian elephant is slightly smaller than its African cousin.  Asian elephants weigh between 6,000 and 11,000 pounds.  Our host Woody explained that Asian elephants sleep for about 4 hours in the day, and eat and poop the remaining 20.  I thought he was kidding – but quickly learned that ALL THEY DO IS EAT.  I decided I could get used to that lifestyle :) 

 
Having a baby elephant is a serious commitment.  Two of the elephants at mahout camp were pregnant – which I thought was a high ratio considering there were only 8 elephants!  But I learned that elephants have a lot longer pregnancy than any other mammal—nearly 22 months!  Cows usually give birth to one calf every two to four years. At birth, elephants already weigh some 200 pounds (91 kilograms) and stand about three feet (1 meter) tall.  Elephants also have babies until they are about 50 years old and live to about 70 years old.
 

Learning how to drive an elephant is very very challenging.  Imagine it is like learning how to drive a car, except you really don’t have pedals because you are riding a wild animal that is a good twelve to fifteen feet off the ground.  

You can see all the Thai elephant commands on my arm!

 

They taught us nine command words in three minutes…in Thai!  I decided that this was memorization for a quiz I couldn’t afford to fail, so I “cheated” and wrote all of the words on my arm (hence the picture!).  Here are the basic commands for elephants.  Of course, there is no correct spelling because these words are in Thai, but this is what it should sound like (at least to me!): 

 Pai = to go forward

Toy = to go backwards

Sai = turn left

Quaa = turn right 

Bonsoon = open mouth for food

And Most importantly,   Yut = Stop!

Swimming with our elephant!

To get on the elephant, you say:  “Yo Ka” in which the elephant raises her front leg and makes a step for you to climb on.  Once you are on her foot you say “Soon” and the elephant raises her leg even higher so that you can climb on!  Incredible.

Of course, the most important word is “Di Mak” which means very good!

We spent the morning practicing our commands with the elephants.  Getting on and off (which is actually really difficult), steering, and most importantly …stopping!  Of course we fed them plenty of bananas and got to see a few tricks.  We then loaded the truck full of hay, fed the elephants, had a delicious Thai meal, and then went on a two-hour trek bareback riding our elephants.  It turns out “driving” an elephant is INCREDIBLY difficult, and while they may have big ears – they do NOT always listen – especially when there are delicious looking plants to eat on the side of the road.

We couldn't leave without some elephant kisses first!

We trekked to a river and bathed the elephants and had a rather one-sided water fight.  Elephant trunks are much better than any water gun I ever had as a kid.  I think if I had an elephant for the Songkran water festival here in Thailand in April – I would win that water fight easily!

Today was one of the best days in my life.  I have always admired elephants but I had never before been able to spend so much time with them – they truly are remarkable creatures and incredibly smart.  It was also refreshing to be out in the jungle and breathe fresh air (which Bangkok seriously lacks).  If you ever do travel to Thailand and have a sense of adventure, or perhaps just want a great water fight, this should not be missed.