A Belated Thank You to Elephant Nature Park

Many people in our group had never had an encounter with Thailand's most majestic animal... The elephant. Prior to our arrival, we all had the stereotypical expectations of what that experience would be; elephant riding, elephant painting, and petting the babies. Excited and exhilarated, we soon realized that at Elephant Nature Park, there are more natural and rewarding ways to interact with elephants... And we walked away impassioned and informed of the hardships of these incredible creatures. We arrived the camp on a Monday and were led into a wooden platform and were introduced to our guide for the week, a spunky northern Thai woman, Apple. She explained to us the rules and principles of the park and took us out onto the fields to learn about the various elephants that call this beautiful place home. Exploring the grounds, our Pacific Discovery group, got an intimate tour of where we would be official volunteer guests for the next week. This spectacular sanctuary is home to 39 well deserving elephants who in the past were abused and mistreated. During the day they are able to roam free and interact with the many guests that visit. Open accommodations allow for prime viewing of the elephants, and an open feeding platform enables guests to feed the elephants snacks like bananas and watermelon. On the grounds, Apple took us to a few spots where everyone got the opportunity to touch an elephant for the first time. Everyone was beyond excited and many snuck in their first "Elphie" (elephant selfie), a causal thing at ENP. 3:45 rolled around and it was time for elephant bathing, a daily occurrence, where everyone is free to help clean the elephants. It was a fun time for everyone... Especially the eles. After an afternoon of fun, we were shown a revealing documentary, opening our eyes to the heart wrenching and sickening truth of elephant treatment in Thailand. We learned about the unfortunate tradition of elephant "breaking" and how Thailand's ways need to change. The founder of the park, Lek Chalert, is working to spread new ways of positive reinforcement training of elephants throughout Thailand. We all found her truly inspirational. With this cause in mind, we worked throughout the week volunteering in the park, doing vigorous odd jobs like cutting corn for feed and stocking the elephant kitchen. It was hard work but we found ways to make it fun and in the end, it was worth it for the elephants. We all loved the chill environment and after an afternoon of working hard it was always nice to hang out in the park's cozy living space. We enjoying the delicious vegetarian buffet and listening to the talks given by the ENP professionals about positive reinforcement training and their dog rescue center (where they have 400 adoptable dogs and 200 cats). Overall, ENP was a wonderful experience for all, living with elephants for a week and making a difference, helping out this inspirational organization!

Nina Ripich, Allison Myers & Sasha Howes