Ran-Tong Elephant Center

Our second day in Chiang Mai was spent at the Ran-Tong Save and Rescue Elephant Center, and honestly this was one of the best days of my life. It was so incredible to interact with the elephants and learn each of their stories. Elephants are wild animals in Thailand, and they are allowed to roam free wherever they please. There are laws in place that protect these beautiful creatures from being captured and forced to work in industries such as logging or farming. Unfortunately though, elephants are not protected in the surrounding countries. So if one of the wild elephants wanders over the border, they might be captured there and forced into these awful situations.

At the beginning of our day, we learned that the elephant we got to ride was rescued from a logging company in Laos. The center bought the elephant from them, and now she is allowed to roam free for the majority of her life. The elephants roam free all night, and then in the morning, a Mahout finds them and rides them back to the center.

Each elephant has a Mahout, or a person who takes care of them. They come from a tribe in northern Thailand, who have been working with elephants since as long as they can remember; it is their way of life. The Mahout that takes care of our elephant was a 17 year old boy. He was so sweet and he took all of the pictures for us as we were riding along. Below are a few of my favorites.

Before we hopped on the elephants, we were taught how to control them. Basically, it is just like riding a horse. To turn, you kick with your outside foot of the way you are turning. To go, stop, and reverse, there are voice commands. But in case you forget any of the commands, the Mahout is right there beside you.

When we finally got to climb on the elephants back, it was the most amazing experience! We rode  through the jungle for a couple of hours, and then when we returned back to camp, we got to swim with and bathe the elephants. As we were still on top of our elephant, she walked in to the swimming hole and started sucking water up in to her trunk. She then sprayed the mud and water all over us. We hopped off and splashed her to get her back, and then she sprayed us again. We swam and played around for a while until finally it was time for her bath, as seen in the picture below.

After the bath and the long trek through the jungle, our elephant was hungry, so we got to feed her. We went and cut the sugar cane from the field and then brought it back and fed it to her right from our hand. Check out our elephant looking cute while eating.

To finish off our day, we got to play with the baby elephant. She is only about six months old and 250 pounds. Her mother is protective, but she is still very curious. Whenever her mother allowed, she would wander up to Brad and I and wrap her trunk around our hands, resulting in a game of tug of war. (pictured below) We also splashed her with water and fed her some sugar cane. Really, if I haven't said it enough already, this was one of the most wonderful days.