Even before setting foot in Thailand we knew we would like to see some exotic animals. It’s just we didn’t know when, where and how.
After an extensive research, we said NO to drugged tigers petting and riding the elephants, and said yes to an elephant sanctuary.
Elephant sanctuaries are still unusual tourist thing in Thailand, especially among older tourists and those coming from less educated countries. And even among the local tourists.
The sanctuaries are run by volunteers who are in charge of keeping the animals safe and informing the visitors on benefits of such organisations and the harsh conditions that animals are experiencing before coming to the sanctuary itself.
For now, there are several elephant sanctuaries on four locations in Thailand; Phuket, Pattaya, Samui and Chang Mai, that is among the pioneers of this type new ethical elephant attractions which have swept the whole country.
The sanctuaries offer several types of guided tours done by English speaking guides as well as the option of a sleepover in a camp. It’s up to you what would you like to do 🙂
We opted for a morning visit, thinking it would be less warm. Oh what a mistake to make 🙂 But it was definitely less mosquitoes.
The visit to the sanctuary included both pick up and a drop off, as well as welcome coffee upon arrival and a lunch after the visit. Around 82$ for all of that.
The sanctuaries are run by passionate professionals ranging from veterinarians and educators, some of whom are just volunteers, but regardless, the sanctuaries are working perfectly. Everything was perfectly organized from the early morning.
Our driver picked us bright and early at 6:30am and he was very concerned if Debeli will fit in the minivan. How cute 🙂
We were joined by several other people on the way, one of whom started talking and hitting on a single girl the minute he sat down. Later he was the only one not participating in the activities which was so strange and weird. Anyway…..
An hour later, we arrived to the sanctuary that was located north from our Kata beach. Around 50 of us were greeted by the staff and were told a bit about sanctuary’s goals while we were sipping on complementary coffee and cookies.
The host introduced us to the history and goals of the sanctuary as well as to the history of some of the elephants and their habits.
Out of the approximately 5000 elephants in Thailand, 70-80% are currently being used for logging, riding and/or entertainment.
The elephants are grouped by sex in the sanctuaries, because of their strong natural instincts and the Phuket sanctuary is currently hosting seven female elephants.
The oldest, Dok Ngoen was born in 1945 and the youngest, my age actually, was born in 1979. Her name is Pimpa 🙂
All of them had hard life from the very beginning, and most of them are scarred for life with both physical and mental scars.
Upon her arrival to the sanctuary, Dok Ngoen was so stressed that she acted hostile towards her rescuers. These days she takes the new rescues under her wing and helps to rehabilitate them.
The cost of rescue or adoption ranges from 18 000 – 27 000 USD for older elephants and 45 000 – 1.4 million USD for young female elephants and baby elephants. The cost of food and water consumption for a month (per elephant) works out to about 1300 USD as elephants eat between 250-350 kg (550-770 lbs) of food a day.
So, it was normal that we start our day by feeding the elephants.
The group of us, with help of the organizers, made rice and banana balls that elephants enjoy very much.
Each of us got a watermelon and dessert bucket and meet and greet with the gentle giants could start 🙂
We were instructed well ahead how to feed them, actually.
The elephants use their trunks as we use our hands, but they’re not very skilled and most of the elephants are quite old so we had to be very careful when putting the food in on the tip bend of their trunk.
If they drop the food, they will rarely pick it up from the floor. Especially our first elephant that we fed, Mochi, that was blind to her right eye and she had a very poor sight, so she is depended on being fed. By the banana rice balls. She didn’t care much for the watermelon that is less sweet. Clever girl, right? 🙂
After some time we moved under a covered space to see more elephants and to hear more about their characteristics.
Elephants are the largest mammals inhabiting the land. There are three species currently recognized: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant.
Thailand is home to the Asian elephant that you can easily differentiate from their African relative. The Asian elephants have smaller ears while the African elephants have more rounded head.
The Asian elephant have two dents in the top of their heads and they usually lack tusks, especially female Asian elephants.
Female Asian elephants are usually around 2.4 m (7.9 ft) tall and they can weight around and 2.7 tons.
To be measured properly you have to do a bit of math 🙂
The height in centimeters is calculated by foot ratio x 2 – 2.25 and the weight is estimated in a similar measuring the chest girth.
Debeli helped with measurements that turned out to be: 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) and 4 tons for a 42 year old Sai Thong.
After careful inspection of vital signs of some elephants we headed for an post breakfast bathing.
Elephants have really thick skin and they can tolerate cold better than excessive heat, so living in humid and warm parts of the world means they require a lot of refreshments.
Mud baths are very important for elephants as it protects their skin from being burnt by the harsh sun.
Each of the elephants was escorted to the mud spa pool by its caretaker (mahout in Thai) and the rest of the group joined in for a whole lot of fun.
We helped to rub the mud onto the elephants and to scrub them well, before heading to the small lake where we rinsed them off.
The gentle rubbing after breakfast induced bowl movements for some elephants so their mahouts helped them while pooping 🙂
They just held a big bucket under their ass and scooped the rest with hand. It’s just fruits and vegetables, no biggie.
And speaking of vegetables, we had some afterwards for lunch as it was around noon when we finished with bathing.
While we ate, the elephants were escorted to a shaded part of the sanctuary where they waited for an afternoon visit and another round of visitors excited about meeting these magnificent animals and helping them live a nicer life.
At the very departing, the hosts gave a Karen shirt to each of the participants which was a really nice gesture 🙂
It was definitely the highlight of our stay in Phuket!
UTOČIŠTE SLONOVA
Još prije putovanja na Tajland, znali smo da ćemo posjetiti neke egzotične životinje samo nismo znali kad, koje, gdje i kako.
Nakon opširnog istraživanja zaključili smo da posjet drogiranim tigrovima i jahanje slonova ne dolazi u obzir.
Utočišta slonova još uvijek su nepoznanica u Tajlandu, posebice među starijom populacijom i slabije upućenim turistima. Najveći ignoranti, za ne povjerovati, su lokalci.
Utočišta vode uglavnom volonteri koji su zaduženi za brigu o životinjama te informiranju posjetitelja o nemogućim uvjeta u kojima životinje žive prije nego što su udomljene te neophodnosti sličnih organizacija.
Trenutno postoji nekoliko utočišta na četiri lokacije u Tajlandu; Phuket, Pattaya, Samui i Chang Mai, gdje se nalazi prvi od ovakvih utočišta.
Utočišta nude nekoliko vrsta vođenih tura na engleskom kao i mogućnost noćenja u kampu i cjelodnevnog boravka sa životinjama.
Mi smo se odlučili za ranojutarnji posjet, misleći da će biti manje vruće nego popodne. Ahahahahahaha….koja greška….ali svakako je bilo manje komaraca.
Posjet je uključivao prijevoz do i od utočišta kao i jutarnju kavu odmah po dolasku i ručak nakon posjeta. Sve u svemu oko 550 hrk.
Unatoč činjenici da više-manje volonteri i strastveni životinjoljupci vode ovakva utočišta sve je funkcioniralo tip top.
Rano ujutro oko pola 7 pokupio nas je vozač koji se ekstremno brinuo da Debeli ne zvekne glavom o krov auta, što je bilo toliko dražesno da je postalo naporno jer je Debeli morao izaći svako malo propustiti ostale putnike 🙂
Sve skupa nas šestero putovali smo nekih cc sat vremena, nešto sjevernije od Kata plaže u unutrašnjost Phuketa do utočišta gdje smo se pridružili ostatku grupe koja je sve skupa brojila oko pedesetak posjetitelja.
Dok nam je domaćin objašnjavao povijest i svrhu postojanja organizacije te navike slonova, mi smo pijuckali kavu i grickali kekse koje su nam ponudili.
Od otprilike 5000 slonova u Tajlandu njih 70-80% trenutno se koristi za tegljenje, jahanje ili u zabavnoj industriji.
Slonovi su smješteni u utočišta po spolu kojem pripadaju zbog vlastite sigurnosti jer mužjaci imaju snažan seksualan nagon i kad dođe vrijeme parenja ništa ih neće spriječiti da priđu ženki. Klasična ljubavna priča <3
Phuket utočište koje smo posjetili trenutno udomljava sedam ženki od kojih najstarija, Dok Ngoen, ima 74 godine, dok je najmlađa, Pimpa, moje godište. Curetak vele 🙂
Sve do jedan slon živio je u ekstremno teškim uvjetima prije no što je udomljen u utočištu. Svi su fizički i psihički zlostavljani te imaju vidljive ožiljke po cijelom tijelu, najviše po ušima.
Kad je prvi put stigla u utočište, Don Ngone je bila toliko traumatizirana da je bila neprijateljski nastrojena prema udomiteljima i trebalo joj je neko vrijeme da prihvati novo okruženje. Sad slonica brine za novopridošlice i pomaže im u rehabilitaciji.
Cijena koju utočišta moraju platiti za kupnju ili čak iznajmljivanje jednog slona (jer ih se prvotni vlasnici ne žele lako riješiti shvaćajući njihovu vrijednost) može varirati od 120 000 do 180 000 hrk za starije slonove dok se za ženke i bebe slonove treba izdvojiti i do 9 000 000 hrk.
Uzdržavanje jednog slona mjesečno može koštati i do 9000 kuna jer slon dnevno pojede između 250 i 350 kilograma hrane. Sad vam je vjerojatno jasnija cijena koju platite za posjet i jasno vam je da smo posjet počeli – s hranjenjem slonova 🙂
Prvo smo pripremili loptice od riže, banana i šećerne trske koje slonovi ekstremno vole, a koje su im izvor vlakana i zdravih šećera.
Svatko od nas dobio je kanticu s nasječenom lubenicom i bili smo spremni za prvi susret.
Prilikom uvodnog upoznavanja, vodič nas je podučio nekim osnovnim karakteristikama slonova, te kako pravilno hraniti slonove.
Azijski slonovi su zapravo jedni od tri vrste ovih najvećih sisavaca koji nastanjuju Zemlju. Od svojih afričkih rođaka razlikuju se po veličini ušiju koje su manje, po dva udubljenja na lubanji te po nedostatku kljova, pogotovo kad su u pitanju ženke.
Obzirom da slonovi nemaju ruke kao mi, za hranjene se koriste isključivo surlom koja je vrlo gipka i koja sve hvata pri svome vrhu.
Slonu se u mali pregib surle postavi komadić hrane i on je prinese ustima. U slučaju da mu hrana ispadne, vrlo rijetko će je pokupiti s poda. Osim ako su u pitanju slatke rižine kuglice. To im je hit.
Nakon što smo nahranili Mochi, 64.-godišnju, poluslijepu slonicu, otišli smo se upoznati s ostatkom zabavne grupe. Slonova. Ne ljudi 🙂
Upoznali smo se sa Sai Hong koju smo ”pregledali” i napravili izvještaj o njenom vidljivom vanjskom zdravstvenom stanju uz pomoć volonterke, dok je Debeli pomogao izmjeriti slonicu 🙂
Za mjerenje i vaganje slonova u slučaju da nemate vagu pomažu male formule koje se računaju uz pomoć opsega stopala (visina) te opsega prsiju za izračun težine.
Nakon kratkog zbrajanja i množenja ispostavilo se da je Sai Thong visoka oko dva i pol metra te teška četiri tone. Perolaka, reklo bi se 🙂
Nakon izdašnog hranjenja slonova bilo je vrijeme za kupanac. Prvo blatnjava kupka koja služi kao piling, a onda ispiranje u jezercetu.
Slonovi imaju jako tvrdu i hrapavu kožu te lakše podnose hladnoću od ove vlažne vrućine tako da im je kupanje i namakanje kao nama; divota 🙂
Svakog slona njegov njegovatelj (mahout na tajskom jeziku) odveo je do blatnjave kupke gdje smo jedni druge i slonove mazali i trljali blatom, da bi se potom spustili do jezera gdje smo ih isprali.
Nježno trljanje nakon doručka ubrzo je rezultiralo jutarnjom kakicom koju su njegovatelji skupljali u kante. U pitanju je samo hrpa vlakana tako da nije bilo straha.
A kad smo već kod vlakana, mi smo svoju dnevnu dozu dobili nakon jutarnjeg kupanca kad nam je bio poslužen klasični thai buffet prije nego što smo se oprostili od slonova i uputili nazad prema hotelu, u krevet, na ručak pa na plažu 🙂
Posjet Elephant Jungle Sanctuary-u svakako je bio vrhunac našeg posjeta Phuketu i savjetovali bi svima, koji se nađu u prilici, da svojim posjetom i sudjelovanjem podrže rast i život ovakvih utočišta i ovih nježnih divova.
Prema istraživanju od prije nekoliko godina pretpostavlja se da populacija azijskih divljih slonova iznosi tek 32 000 grla, što je zabrinjavajuće malo. I tužno. Oni, ali i mi zaslužujemo puno više, zar ne?
