Riding Elephants in Thailand! Day 9

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016

Today’s the day! Tracy and I woke up, braided our hair and set off for a small morning walk around the village.

After breakfast we went to find our tour guide who was preparing soap for the elephant bath. Apparently, there’s some tree bark that acts as a soap for the elephants, when the material is placed in water. They also gave us clothing to change into, so we wouldn’t ruin our own clothes.

Our group of 6 🙂 They were with us on the hike too.

Then, they brought over an elephant and let us feed it tons of food. There were bananas for days. We also fed the elephant pineapple skin, but it didn’t like that as much. Their sense of smell is very accurate too. The elephant could tell I was holding a banana behind my back and its trunk would turn this way and that to try and get it. This elephant was very well behaved and I could tell she was a favorite among the trainers.

While we took turns feeding the elephant and taking pictures, they gave us a list of elephant commands to study. These commands would be important later when riding the elephant bareback.

Gosh, I was so nervous. In hindsight, I really had nothing to worry about because the trainers are all there. But have you seen these elephants?! They’re huge!!! They could easily crush me, or I could fall off the elephant!

I wanted to push myself and get over my fear. The trainer could tell I was nervous though, because when I was getting on the elephant, he kept telling me to breathe and relax, haha.

How to climb onto an elephant: This part was really cool. So, you say a command, that tells the elephant to lift his leg. With one hand grabbing onto its skin, and the other grabbing onto it’s ear, tell the elephant to “raise higher”, and the elephant will raise its leg higher as you swing your leg over the top.

That tool was used to tell the elephant which direction to go. Use the tool to scratch behind his left/right ear and that will tell the elephant which way you want to go.

Getting down from the elephant was a little bit scarier. There’s a command for the elephant to bow it’s head, and then you slide down the front of its trunk, but it felt far from the ground and if you’re not careful with your landing, you could really hurt yourself.

While everyone took turns individually trying out the commands on the elephant, they brought out a baby elephant as well. This elephant was only 2 years old! And it was so big! (But adorable at the same time).

I didn’t learn til then, but elephant trunks are actually really dirty and wet. It’s like saliva is dripping from their trunks, but at the same time, they are using their noses to smell everything! That thing is dragged all over the ground.

Then, they put us in pairs on the elephants. Tracy rode in the front and I sat behind her. The trainers then led the elephants on a short walk. Along the way, the elephants stopped to eat some hay. However, it was harder for some to get the elephants to leave the pile of hay, because the elephants just don’t stop eating, haha. Then the elephants walked along a small creek.

Maybe three to five minutes into the creek, I suddenly feel the elephant’s body shift. I feel like I’m about to fall off and I cling to the rope that’s tied in front of me, hoping I don’t fall off. So remember, when I said in the previous post that elephant like to scratch their body on poles, well our elephant decided to stop next to this tree and scratch its body. I realized too late that that was what the elephant was doing because my leg was in between the elephant and the tree. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I started yelling “ow, ow, ow” hoping the elephant trainer would understand my plea for help. For a minute, I was scared that the elephant was going to crush my leg, but thankfully, I was only stuck in between for a brief moment before the trainer got the elephant off the tree and keep moving.

Logically, after a walk, the elephants need a bath!!! haha. After we dismounted the elephant, we got into the water and scrubbed and washed the elephants with the “soap” we prepared earlier. Yes, I’m aware this water is not clean. I tried not to think about it.

After the bath, we also got to give the elephant a mud bath. Spoiled elephant. Just kidding. I’ve never really played in mud growing up. I’m also the type who doesn’t like to get dirty. So, this was also a first for me and stepping out of my comfort zone.

Elephants really like to scratch their bodies.

We just picked up mud and threw it at the elephant. I did fall in the mud a couple times. It’s not easy. Afterwards, we took a shower and cleaned ourselves up before they served us lunch.