The Day I Died

Sorry but my phone won't transfer any of my photos so no photos for this post for now.

Today was the first full day at the Elephant Nature Park, and it was pretty packed with things we had to do. Breakfast started at seven sharp, and we meet at what the supervisors call ‘The Meeting Place’ at eight. Each group was assigned to doing something.

Ele Poo A,B

Ele Food C

Cut Grass D

Ele Walk E

We were group E so we started off by meeting the four main families at the park. Starting off with the new baby’s family. Going on to were the males were, then two of the larger families before we finished off with the two eldest females at the park who are around 70. During this time, I had learned that you can tell the age of the elephant by how concave the temples are on the elephant. The deeper they are the higher in age they are. I had never known that before. I was told by the Tulsa Zoo that the more spots they had the higher in age they were but then Sooky one of the elephants there isn’t as old as Gunda who just reached 65 and Sooky has a decent amount of spots. The concave temples make so much more sense and it actually shows it too. One of the ones who was around seventy had a flower in her ear like an earring and we had learned from Mix our supervisor guide that this was from the hooks that the mahouts had used on her. So the mahout who takes care of her now and covered it up with a makeshift earring that is a flower.

We finished early which gave us thirty minutes before lunch started. Three of use returned to our six-person bed room and I napped like it was night. I woke up just in time to head to the main pavalion to have lunch. I find myself eating the sames things, but everything else I had tried I didn’t quite like. So it’s usually sticky white rice and potato curry, which is actually pretty spicey, but very good. During lunch watermelon and fries are added on, but dinner is usually just the two. Breakfast is quite a strage thing with food that could be eaten at lunch or dinner. But I grabbed sticky rice, the potato curry, and two slices of toast with jam and butter.

After lunch, at one, our group was assigned to make a dam in the river. They make these dams on and off so the elephants can actually swim. It was intence, hard, and I know I burned even when I reapplied three times. I am really grateful for the fact that I brought my cowboy hate though I still end up buring my cheeks and eyebrows. We finished pretty fast at about 2:55 we had decided to take a break before the group got together for the next activity. By this time, I was pretty starving and there were snacks provided today which made me really happy. I hung out at the main pavalion resting and trying not to fall asleep before we met at the meeting place to bath the elephants!

I was wet from the dam, but I was practically dripping after this due to the boys on the other side overthrowing the water, missing the elephant completely and getting the opposite side. When we got most of the sides and the front cleaned, the mahout got the elephant to lay on her side so we could get the top. This is when Mix started splashing behind us and getting us wet which then got a war going on between a few of the students and Mix. It was pretty funny to watch when Mix snuck up behind one of the girls and dumped a bucket of water over her. Her face said something different than what she said which was “That felt good”. He’s funny and everyone agrees that he is adorable.

When we were done with this we learned that Lek, the owner and founder of the Elephant Nature Park and Save the Elephant Foundation was being interviewed and the camera man and director wanted us to be apart of it. In the beginng we just watched Lek interact with the elephants. Its amazing how calm she is as she huddled underneath them and how the swarm all around her. They know her like they should, as their mother. We then shifted and started to feed the elephants one by one. I was the first to go. We sat next to Lek and a little below the elephants. It was amazing to watch them from below. Their trunks making it very obvious to put the food in the small hook they would make. I feed the elephant a cucumber and two halves a watermelon. During the first slice of watermelon, Lek asked me if I had ever sat or been this close to an elephant in which my response was a shaking no.

I don’t think anyone really knows but besides my sister, Lek is another role model of mine. She has a job that saves the best animals in the world and she isn’t afraid of being near them. She mothers them until they are old enough to live on there own. She is incredibly calm and very sweet and she always takes time out of her busy schedule to talk to anyone. I knew she was small, but she even smaller than me. I had this thought in the back of my mind after lunch but never got to ask if she would be willing to take on an apprentice. I could see myself living or working here for the rest of my life, but you never know how my life will end up, I still have one more year of college left and I’m still thinking of getting my masters at Ohio State.

After that we were released to hang out until dinner, which is at six. After that I spent a decent forty-five minutes watching the mahouts play soccer and the elephants lounging behind them. It’s the closest I have had for alone time so far. Hopefully, I'll get a little more once I'm done with this, but if not, music can always calm the mind.

I hope at some point I will be able to talk to Lek and ask her about the apprentice. Who really knows though, she may say no or have no idea what I'm talking about. I would be nice though to just sit with her and elephants and just watch.

-Claire