On the drive to Chiang Mai I was surprised that we seemed to go through a few national parks. It was only when Pharanee pointed it out to me that I realised it was all new secondary forest. 20 years ago all these hillsides were bare. In 1988 Thailand suffered a number of landslides and floods; this led the Government to pass a law banning commercial logging. Good news, you would imagine. Sadly the deforestation has carried on and 9% of Thailand’s remaining forest cover disappeared between 1990 and 2005.
The logging ban also had an effect on an animal that has played an important role in Thailand for many years: the Asian Elephant. In fact, elephants are revered and considered as the animal that helped build Thailand. Unfortunately, in modern days, many elephants earned their employment in the logging industry. These elephants and their Mahoots now struggle for work and many have taken to begging on the streets. The elephants perform tricks for tourists and many are involved in car accidents. There are less than 5000 elephants left in Thailand, around 2000 are wild. 10 years ago there were 25, 000! 100 years ago there were 100,000! 
Many of the unemployed elephants were sold off into neighbouring countries where logging is still legal. Elephants are awarded livestock status in Thailand and can be traded as such. Some were released into the wild and left to fend for themselves. The majority that don’t beg on the streets now work in the trekking industry, taking tourists for treks into the hills and forest. A few lucky ones have found themselves at rescue centres such as the WFFT and the Elephant Nature Park.
So, on my first day I was picked up at my hotel and driven an hour and a half North from Chiang Mai. Within the beautiful Mae Taeng Valley lies the Elephant Nature Park. The park was established in 1995 by Sangduen Chailert, otherwise known as Lek(‘small’ in Thai). Lek has created a haven and the elephants here have really landed on their feet. There are 35 elephants spread between 6 herds.
The park makes its money through tourists, like me, coming to spend a day learning about the elephants. There are 2 main feeds a day and 2 baths at the river, all of which the tourists get to join in on. This is the extent of the work that the elephants do and I believe they thoroughly enjoy both activities. In between the feeding and washing we had several talks and were introduced to some of the residents. We also watched a video which included scenes of how an elephant is usually broken into work. It is the traditional method and I found it incredibly distressing to watch. I was glad to have seen it though and relieved to hear that Lek has been working to change the training method. She has been teaching the hill tribes how to train their elephants using positive reinforcement. She also runs an elephant ambulance and travels around treating the remaining working elephants. One of the elephants I met had most of her foot blown off by a landmine. 
This is a big problem in Thailand; it shares its borders with Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Some of these borders are disputed and so there is a big problem with landmines.Altogether, I had an amazing experience and I felt very privileged to be around these magnificent beasts. I felt that my money would be well spent and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Thailand. As well as day-tripping tourists, such as myself, the centre takes Volunteers and I imagine it would be fantastic to stay here for a week or two and really get to know the elephants.
Keri ;o)
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