Elephant Excursion in Luang Prabang

Living in Asia certainly piqued my interest in riding an elephant. As soon as we agreed that Laos would be our next vacation destination, I immediately began researching tourist activities with elephants. There were several companies that catered to this interest. I eventually decided to go with Elephant Village Sanctuary and Resorts. Elephant Village had rave reviews on TripAdvisor. I opted for the One Day Mahout Experience. This package included a short stroll on the elephant, mahout training on how to control the elephant, and the opportunity to bathe the elephant in the Nam Khan River. I was sold! My next job would be to sell Douglas on this excursion. Nothing about him shouts elephant rider. Nothing about me shouts that either; therefore, it was a chance he’d be interested. Douglas usually leaps at the opportunity to try something new, so I presumed his answer would be an automatic yes. I was wrong. When I pitched him the idea he looked at me as if to say, Woman you must be crazy! Actually, his exact words were, “Why would I want to ride an elephant”? Because you can’t do it in America, I sarcastically replied. I showed him the website for Elephant Village and what activities we would do for the day. He then looked at me cross-eyed upon hearing the word ‘day.’ I smiled and said, “Yes honey, we’ll be out there all day but look how much we’ll get to experience.” My selling word for anything I want us to do is experience. I had to reemphasize that word when I browsed across the picture of people bathing elephants in the river and told him that would be us too. I intentionally did not tell him the price until he was close to being sold on my proposal. The cost was $93 per person. In true Douglas fashion he gasped at the thought of spending that much money for an experience. With no excitement in his voice, Douglas agreed that I could sign us up for the trip. When in Asia…

Our tour date was Saturday, 24 May. A staff member from Elephant Village picked us up at our hotel at 8:30am. We started this especially hot day with a briefing about the elephants while sitting in a bamboo pagoda drinking tea and water. Our guide went into excessive detail about the village and fascinating facts about all 11 female elephants on the property. The camp’s mission is to rescue and rehabilitate the elephants. Many of the elephants are rescued from working in the logging industry. Loggers are people who collect logs in the mountains. The mahout, an elephant’s keeper, is considered the logger and the elephant is basically its vehicle. The malnourished elephant and its mahout climb the mountains on steep terrain in search for logs every day. When they find them the elephant will either use its trunk to roll the log down a hill, or the elephant will pull the log from behind with chains affixed from its neck to the log. The mahout uses a string that is attached to the elephant’s ear to cue the elephant to begin moving. The elephants are known to cry out because of the pain they are going through.

 

Laos is losing more and more elephants due to the brutal effects of logging. Elephant Village has used tourism as an excellent way to save the lives of these elephants and simultaneously support its community. They employ their neighbors to work as trainers, cooks, maintenance workers, guides, village staff members, and they even allow community members to sell their handicrafts on the property. Tourist activities at the village grant people the ability to live a better life independently. This information made the cost of $93 per person sound awfully cheap. It felt good to know we had contributed to such an extraordinary organization.

Our first interaction with the elephants was learning how to climb onto their backs and give commands. It was rather difficult to pay attention to the list of commands the guide was taking us through with this 10-foot tall elephant staring at me. I did not even attempt to retain that knowledge. I was more drawn to my thoughts on how I talked myself into this excursion initially. Oh yes, I remember – the experience! Luckily for us (especially me) we were each assigned a mahout who would ride the elephant with us the entire time. Thank goodness! If I were left to direct that elephant where to go or not go by myself, I promise you that someone would have seen us both on Asian news.

Riding an elephant looks alluring in the pictures, but one riding aspect that never crossed my mind was mounting the massive creature. One by one we each climbed onto the elephant for a jaunt in the village. Of course the mahout and camp manager made it look incredibly easy. It is not! We mounted the elephant on its right side while the mahout was already sitting on its back. We were instructed to put our right foot on the elephant’s leg, which it so kindly offered us, and then place our right hand onto the elephant’s ear and pull up. Yes, you read that correctly – the elephant’s ear can handle a human’s body weight without even flinching! The mahout then grabs our left arm while the camp manager on the ground uses his hand to practically shove up our butts as he pushes us onto the elephant. Once our bums were out of the managers’ reach, we were left to hoist ourselves up by swinging the left leg around the elephant’s back and then sitting on top of the elephant ever so graciously. Do I even have to say that my experience did not go nearly as smoothly as the description would suggest (if one considers that description smooth at all)?

3 inch wiry elephant hair brushing against my face - What have I gotten myself into?!?!

You know when a kid is ecstatic for doing what seems like the simplest thing....that's how I felt. Small victories!

Dismounting the elephant. That felt like a far slide down from the top!

Douglas' turn

Notice the muscles in his right arm flexing. The elephant's ear can withstand a lot of pressure.

Douglas' attempt was so much smoother than mine.

Like a pro! Douglas J. Hardee - Mahout-in-training

 

The elephant was thirsty during the ride

Why does he look like a natural? One would think he grew up doing this on the weekends!

 

And he comes down ever so nicely.

I could have called the day a wrap from that experience alone. Getting on and off an elephant should be considered a form of exercise. I believed there must have been an easier way. Perhaps a ladder or even a step stool would aid tremendously. The camp manager then took us to the loading dock where we climbed a set of stairs and easily boarded the elephant for a trek through the village and river.  Are you kidding me? Why wasn’t that option shared with us in the beginning? Ah yes…I had signed us up for the “Mahout Experience” which included learning how to climb on and off a bareback elephant. I do these things to myself!

It looked nice to see people riding the elephants on a howdah, a seat specifically for riding on an elephant’s back. It seemed like such a romantic thing to do, similar to a horse-drawn carriage ride I suppose. Pictures can be deceiving. While I did like the ride, there is nothing romantic about pushing backward against the howdah to avoid sliding out of the seat. Our security was provided by the wooden bar over our laps, but I have to be honest – I did not feel very secure. When the elephant trudged down the steep hill towards the river, it felt like we could easily fall out. The slow pace was not reassuring either. I’m not going to lie; I did call out Jesus’ name a few times, and I’m not ashamed of that! Once we made it into the river I felt my muscles loosen up. I then began to revel in the experience.

 

There was one elephant a few feet ahead of us. Douglas tapped me on my leg and pointed to the elephant saying, “Look, look!” Why did I look? The elephant’s bright pink booty-hole had widened similar to a woman’s vagina during birth and was releasing poop bombs near the size of basketballs. The green spheres continued to drop one after the other. My jaw was almost in the river from the sight. I had never seen anything like that before. Once the elephant was done doing the “doo,” her hole shrunk back to its normal form. You surely cannot cue an elephant to take a poop. I seriously believe some things happen just so I can blog about them.

As we moved along the river our mahout offered to trade places with us so we could each have a turn riding the elephant’s neck. Neither of us was interested in his gesture. Mainly because we wondered how that transition would occur without one of us possibly falling into the poop-infested water. No thank you! Shortly after, our mahout instructed the elephant to exit the river, onto the land across from the village. The mahout then took our camera and jumped off the elephant to capture our once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Our photo session complete, we trekked a little further through the river before returning to the village. Once on the village grounds it was feeding time – for the elephants. We met each of our elephants at the designated Feeding Station. We each bought two or three bunches of bananas for our particular elephant’s snack. I presumed they would eat the peels, but I was astonished to discover they ate the entire stalk. It is no wonder their poop looked the way it did when they are eating banana peels and stalks all day. Douglas and I took turns feeding. Apparently I was not feeding our elephant fast enough because her trunk continuously returned to my hands before I could detach the next group of bananas.

This little girl has in her hand a long knife, finely peeling the skin off a mango....and there is no adult in sight!

Next, our guide escorted us back to the river where we took a long-tail boat across the water. We hiked through the forest to visit the newest member of the village, Maxi. Maxi was born last year on 23 May. During our visit he was just a day shy of turning one year old. He is the only male elephant at the village. Despite Maxi’s size, he looks like a cute baby. Cute from a distance, undoubtedly! Maxi was not fond of being kept inside the stable. He was lifting his leg and sticking it outside of the logs, trying to break free. Maxi has to be kept close to his mama until he is two to four years of age. Fun Fact: Elephants carry their developing young for 20-22 months. The calf is born weighing approximately 200 pounds. That’s a big baby!

I adore this photo.

There is a chance Maxi’s mom was not keen on all the visitors around him. Either that or she simply does not appreciate people petting her trunk. A man in the group gently rubbed the elephant’s trunk when it shockingly tossed its trunk forward and flung the man backwards into a thick log. The man hit his head on the log and then slid to the ground. The fall left him with a bleeding knot on the center of his head. As undesirable as it was for him to make such harsh contact with the log, it was better than the alternative of flying over the cliff that was directly behind the log. When we got back to the village the man visited the Elephant Hospital for a check-up from the veterinarian. A doctor is better than no doctor! Needless to say I am sure that will be the last elephant’s trunk he rubs without a mahout nearby. 

It was nearing noon. We washed our hands – thoroughly – and joined the rest of the group for lunch. The dining area was nicely situated underneath a shed. The menu was buffet-style Lao cuisine. Everything was more than satisfying, especially after the adventure we just had. 

I was eager to take the elephants bathing prior to arriving. This is likely because I allowed a naïve moment to coax me into believing that bathing the elephant in the river would be fun. I guess I envisioned the rivers I saw while living in Beaufort, South Carolina. Friends I knew had a blast while swimming and water skiing in those rivers. I thought it would be similar in Laos…this was not that kind of river. After lunch the camp manager advised everyone to change into their swimsuits, so we could go bathe the elephants in the river. Having already known the answer, I asked, “Which river”? I squirmed at the thought of allowing any part of my body to touch that dirty feces-filled water. At that point I was just ready to proceed in order to say that I had done it! Several moments during this trip I asked myself, “Who are you”? My actions almost made me think I was one with nature and all of its creatures. The Marine Security Guard (MSG) Program has certainly broadened my horizons. Prior to this program, the closest I ever got to an animal not belonging in someone’s home was during my elementary years at camp one summer.  I rode a horse for two minutes before it flung me off onto the ground. I never returned to camp or mounted another horse. I can’t even ride a bike. It’s all too unstable for me! Yes, I wondered who this brand-new adventurous girl was brewing inside of me. At that moment I was thinking she needed to take a nap and awaken ‘City Nicky’!

 There was one woman in our group with a swimsuit and t-shirt on. While I gather that would make for a cute and appropriate picture for the event, I was seeking to expose as minimal skin as possible. I even packed water shoes. I chose to keep my capris on and wear a swimsuit underneath. I also wore a featherweight swimsuit cover-up as my shirt. Ready or not, we were off!

This time out, we were no longer on the howdah. We each had our own elephant and mahout. The mahout sat behind each of us and we sat on the neck of the elephant with our feet behind its ear flaps. We were given brushes to scrub the elephants with in the water. Oh yes, we’re supposed to be giving them a bath. I had forgotten that fact by this stage in the process. I could have cared less about washing the elephant. I was solely focused on not falling off this gentle yet immense creature. When the elephant lowered itself to sit in the water I grabbed hold of its head so tightly I worried for a second that I was hurting it and loosed my grip. Then I reminded myself that this elephant is not even concerned that my large body is clinging to it for dear life; therefore, I’m positive she will not be affected by an extra tug or two. Once the elephant sat in the water I was able to release the tension in my butt cheeks and breathe. Don’t judge until you do it yourself!

The mahout then began giving the elephant commands to spray me with water almost every two minutes. While a splash of water would typically be soothing in the torrid heat, there was nothing refreshing about unsanitary water blown from an elephant’s trunk onto my body. I turned my face away, closed my eyes, and pursed my lips tightly into my mouth preventing any water entry. Douglas should have had my mahout. He would have loved it. His mahout hardly gave the elephant any commands. Douglas was barely wet when we left the river.

By the time we returned from bathing the elephants we were all ready for some much needed relaxation time. Typically the tour would move on to Tad Sae Falls for swimming. During this time of year, however, Tad Sae Falls are dry. Instead we went for a dip in the pool at the village. The more we explored the property, the more we fell in love with its serenity. Everything about the village was beautiful. 

Aside from the dirty and somewhat frightening parts of the trip, we had a superb time. I can safely say that I do not have an interest in riding any more animals during our stay in Asia – or ever. The elephants were plenty for me! The trip was well organized; the staff members were extremely friendly, and accommodating to every request. Douglas and I both had no regrets about signing up and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Luang Prabang. Douglas even admitted that it was the highlight of our vacation. This elephant sanctuary should go in any travelers’ must-do book; it was another thrilling experience checked off of our growing list.