Friday 16th – Sunday 18th March 2007
When I saw the three day mahout (elephant trainer) course advertised at Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, I just knew that I would love it and booked myself on the course. I was so excited that I barely slept the night before! Finally the big day had arrived and I was on my way to the conservation centre I met Kat from Australia, a fellow mahout as we arrived at the centre; it turned out that we were sharing a room which was good. Also on our course were Marly and Chantal from Holland, as well as a Japanese family. We all put on our ‘mahout suits’ and headed to the showground to meet our elephants!
9.00am - My elephant was called Look-Khang; a 15 year old female Asian elephant. She was so beautiful and huge!! I was awe struck by her and couldn’t wait to start our training together. Soon enough, we were completely thrown in at the deep end! Having only just been given the elephant command words list, I hadn’t quite mastered them (!) so I didn’t really follow what my mahout, Kit was saying. Ho hum. Lots of getting on and off via Look-Khang’s right leg = a very long way up and down! We also practised sliding off the front of her head and jumping back on - I made the jump most times! It felt amazing to be a mahout; sitting behind her huge head I was having an absolute blast!
9.45am - Next, we all plodded down to the river for elephant bathing. Had a hilarious time splashing about and spraying the others using Look-Khang’s trunk!! It was a bit scary when she put her head right under and I nearly slipped off – my mahout saved me though.
10.00am - After bathing our elephants, we moved to the showground in a long line with the elephants holding the tail of the one in front – cute! We paraded into the showground and the Look-Khang stopped 2nd from the right – she did all this all by herself = a well trained elephant! In turn, the elephants bowed (!) when their name was introduced. Then, we had to show the crowd what we had learnt on our mahout course! Hang on a minute; we only got on our elephants for the first time an hour ago! We had to do various movements including: get off and on from the side; get off from the front; jump on again from the front; instruct our elephants to pick the training stick up, to sit down, to sit on belly and finally to lie down. We did all this with no problems and the crowd seemed impressed With our part in the show over, we sat back and watched the elephants do their thing with their mahouts. They are amazingly agile animals considering how huge they are, as well as being immensely strong and intelligent. The show demonstrated these skills in various ways including: ‘tightrope’ walking on a narrow log; turning a tap on and off; painting (Look-Khang did an abstract painting!); and pulling large logs then pilling them up using their trunks. All very impressive stuff.
11.00am - We visited a teeny (100kg!) elephant bay that was only 9 days old!! It was very cute. Its mother had tried to attack it at birth so the centre separated them. It is now being nursed by a step mum elephant, as she still had milk. Also, because the King of Thailand is 80 years old this year, he will name the baby elephant! Next we went to the elephant hospital where lots of injured and sick elephants were being cared for. It was interesting to see, though what kind of life to they have? Very difficult to say.
12.00pm - Lunchtime! Great food. Getting on really well with the 3 girls –we make a good team I am very glad to share this amazing experience with them; the mahout course that is, not lunch!
1.15pm - Back to the bathing area for more fun and frolics in the water. We learnt how to instruct our elephants to suck up water in their trunks and to then allow us to point their trunks wherever we wanted – such a good time and was totally soaked!
1.30pm - Showtime again. Identical to the first show, but as it was extremely hot and I was very tired, it was more difficult to jump on Look-Khang’s head – my mahout had to give me a push!
2.30pm - Time to take our elephants to the jungle for the night. It wasn’t very far to Look-Khang’s place, so she was soon munching on the sugarcane I had carried for her. Night night Look-Khang!
3pm – Checked into our home-stay accommodation – basic but clean. Had a much needed shower and then slept.
7pm – Dinner time; so hungry after an exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable first day.
8pm – When I saw ‘8pm sleeping time’ on our course schedule, I thought it was ridiculously early. However, I was more tired than I have ever been and was asleep as my head hit the pillow at 8pm!!
Day 2:
6am!! Up and dressed in our mahout suits ready for the day. We went to the jungle to collect our elephants. Morning Look-Khang! She seemed pleased to see me or maybe that was because I had food? I would like to believe the former!! I got on by her right leg and we set off for the stables. I was a bit uncomfortable because all my muscles were screaming in protest! We ambled back to the camp, stopping at various succulent sugarcanes – yum!
7am – We gave Look-Khang a quick hose down; she loved it. She then held the hose in her mouth and drank thirstily – very cute While this was happening, I was being interviewed for Poland Playboy – I kid you not!
7.30am – Breakfast. We then had free time until our training session.
The schedule on day 2 was the same as on day 1. However, our training sessions and shows were much more productive today, as I had memorised the ‘elephant command’ words, so I was much more involved. I loved it! Elephant bathing remained my favourite activity – got completely soaked but I didn’t care!
Day 3:
6am – Up and dressed ready for the day ahead, but OUCH do I ache?!!
6.30am – Sawadee ka Look-Khang! I gave her the sugarcane I had carried to the jungle – munch munch. I got up onto her neck, while she was eating her breakfast. All this time, a Korean TV crew were filming us! Then, they interviewed me whilst I was sitting up on Look-Khang! May I introduce ‘Debs the mahout’ and her elephant Look-Khang! ;) It is a shame that I will never see the documentary.
8.30am – Matt arrived at the elephant centre!
9am – My last training session and it went really well Matt seemed impressed by what I was doing. I remembered and used all of the elephant command words!!
9.45am – Down to the bathing pool for the last time – had a blast
10am – Our last show and we all did our best and really it showed how much we had progressed since day 1. I have definitely improved in confidence and ability since I joined the course.
10.45am – My mahout presented me with my course completion certificate and a tiny elephant controlling stick. I gave Look-Khang lots of hugs on her trunk. It was a very emotional goodbye.
WOW! What an amazing course and seriously one of the best experiences of my life! I felt totally alive and happy I love elephants and this has only strengthened that love further. The course was wonderful; a life changing experience which I will never forget.
I would recommend the course to anyone – go for it; you will love it!!
Information on Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre at http://www.changthai.com/
When I saw the three day mahout (elephant trainer) course advertised at Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, I just knew that I would love it and booked myself on the course. I was so excited that I barely slept the night before! Finally the big day had arrived and I was on my way to the conservation centre I met Kat from Australia, a fellow mahout as we arrived at the centre; it turned out that we were sharing a room which was good. Also on our course were Marly and Chantal from Holland, as well as a Japanese family. We all put on our ‘mahout suits’ and headed to the showground to meet our elephants!
9.00am - My elephant was called Look-Khang; a 15 year old female Asian elephant. She was so beautiful and huge!! I was awe struck by her and couldn’t wait to start our training together. Soon enough, we were completely thrown in at the deep end! Having only just been given the elephant command words list, I hadn’t quite mastered them (!) so I didn’t really follow what my mahout, Kit was saying. Ho hum. Lots of getting on and off via Look-Khang’s right leg = a very long way up and down! We also practised sliding off the front of her head and jumping back on - I made the jump most times! It felt amazing to be a mahout; sitting behind her huge head I was having an absolute blast!
9.45am - Next, we all plodded down to the river for elephant bathing. Had a hilarious time splashing about and spraying the others using Look-Khang’s trunk!! It was a bit scary when she put her head right under and I nearly slipped off – my mahout saved me though.
10.00am - After bathing our elephants, we moved to the showground in a long line with the elephants holding the tail of the one in front – cute! We paraded into the showground and the Look-Khang stopped 2nd from the right – she did all this all by herself = a well trained elephant! In turn, the elephants bowed (!) when their name was introduced. Then, we had to show the crowd what we had learnt on our mahout course! Hang on a minute; we only got on our elephants for the first time an hour ago! We had to do various movements including: get off and on from the side; get off from the front; jump on again from the front; instruct our elephants to pick the training stick up, to sit down, to sit on belly and finally to lie down. We did all this with no problems and the crowd seemed impressed With our part in the show over, we sat back and watched the elephants do their thing with their mahouts. They are amazingly agile animals considering how huge they are, as well as being immensely strong and intelligent. The show demonstrated these skills in various ways including: ‘tightrope’ walking on a narrow log; turning a tap on and off; painting (Look-Khang did an abstract painting!); and pulling large logs then pilling them up using their trunks. All very impressive stuff.
11.00am - We visited a teeny (100kg!) elephant bay that was only 9 days old!! It was very cute. Its mother had tried to attack it at birth so the centre separated them. It is now being nursed by a step mum elephant, as she still had milk. Also, because the King of Thailand is 80 years old this year, he will name the baby elephant! Next we went to the elephant hospital where lots of injured and sick elephants were being cared for. It was interesting to see, though what kind of life to they have? Very difficult to say.
12.00pm - Lunchtime! Great food. Getting on really well with the 3 girls –we make a good team I am very glad to share this amazing experience with them; the mahout course that is, not lunch!
1.15pm - Back to the bathing area for more fun and frolics in the water. We learnt how to instruct our elephants to suck up water in their trunks and to then allow us to point their trunks wherever we wanted – such a good time and was totally soaked!
1.30pm - Showtime again. Identical to the first show, but as it was extremely hot and I was very tired, it was more difficult to jump on Look-Khang’s head – my mahout had to give me a push!
2.30pm - Time to take our elephants to the jungle for the night. It wasn’t very far to Look-Khang’s place, so she was soon munching on the sugarcane I had carried for her. Night night Look-Khang!
3pm – Checked into our home-stay accommodation – basic but clean. Had a much needed shower and then slept.
7pm – Dinner time; so hungry after an exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable first day.
8pm – When I saw ‘8pm sleeping time’ on our course schedule, I thought it was ridiculously early. However, I was more tired than I have ever been and was asleep as my head hit the pillow at 8pm!!
Day 2:
6am!! Up and dressed in our mahout suits ready for the day. We went to the jungle to collect our elephants. Morning Look-Khang! She seemed pleased to see me or maybe that was because I had food? I would like to believe the former!! I got on by her right leg and we set off for the stables. I was a bit uncomfortable because all my muscles were screaming in protest! We ambled back to the camp, stopping at various succulent sugarcanes – yum!
7am – We gave Look-Khang a quick hose down; she loved it. She then held the hose in her mouth and drank thirstily – very cute While this was happening, I was being interviewed for Poland Playboy – I kid you not!
7.30am – Breakfast. We then had free time until our training session.
The schedule on day 2 was the same as on day 1. However, our training sessions and shows were much more productive today, as I had memorised the ‘elephant command’ words, so I was much more involved. I loved it! Elephant bathing remained my favourite activity – got completely soaked but I didn’t care!
Day 3:
6am – Up and dressed ready for the day ahead, but OUCH do I ache?!!
6.30am – Sawadee ka Look-Khang! I gave her the sugarcane I had carried to the jungle – munch munch. I got up onto her neck, while she was eating her breakfast. All this time, a Korean TV crew were filming us! Then, they interviewed me whilst I was sitting up on Look-Khang! May I introduce ‘Debs the mahout’ and her elephant Look-Khang! ;) It is a shame that I will never see the documentary.
8.30am – Matt arrived at the elephant centre!
9am – My last training session and it went really well Matt seemed impressed by what I was doing. I remembered and used all of the elephant command words!!
9.45am – Down to the bathing pool for the last time – had a blast
10am – Our last show and we all did our best and really it showed how much we had progressed since day 1. I have definitely improved in confidence and ability since I joined the course.
10.45am – My mahout presented me with my course completion certificate and a tiny elephant controlling stick. I gave Look-Khang lots of hugs on her trunk. It was a very emotional goodbye.
WOW! What an amazing course and seriously one of the best experiences of my life! I felt totally alive and happy I love elephants and this has only strengthened that love further. The course was wonderful; a life changing experience which I will never forget.
I would recommend the course to anyone – go for it; you will love it!!
Information on Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Centre at http://www.changthai.com/
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