Loving the Elephant Village

So the highlight of my trip in Laos was my trip to the Elephant Village. The Elephant Village was located outside of Luang Prabang. My experience was made even better by meeting Lia and Jordan from British Columbia. The two day experience was called Mahout Training. Each elephant has a mahout who both cares for them and trains them. We learned some of these skills through the experience. It was  interesting to learn that most Mahouts learn all of their skills from their father. The elephants at the elephant village were all rescued from the logging industry, and some have injuries as result of their past treatment. All of the elephants are female as they are easier to train. The mahout I worked with talked about learning from his father and his plan to teach his young son when he was old enough. However the heart breaking part of my experience with the Mahout was him telling me that he makes only $50 US dollars a month. This money has to be enough to care for his family as well as his elderly parents. It made me a bit angry that I paid $100 dollars for 2 days and he makes such a small amount.  He asked me how much I paid to be at the elephant village and I felt bad telling him knowing he makes so little. I have had moments of feeling guilty for my position in life through out my trip, but I try to tell myself I just need to use my life for good to show my appreciation.

The day started with learning about Asian Elephants and then doing a short lesson on commands for the animals when riding them. We spent the next portion of the day both riding on the elephant’s neck and riding in a basket in the elephant in the river. It was a real experience when when of the Mahouts asked to be my boyfriend. He actually changed elephants in the middle of the river to be on my elephant. He made me pose for many pictures with him. Lia and Jordan found this hilarious.

Elephant ride through the river

My first of many rides on an elephant

Up close and personal

Enjoying the amazing pool

Jordan an Lia riding high on an elephant

My smile shows how truly awesome
 it was  being on top of an elephant.

My Laos wanna be  boyfriend

  

As part of the elephant experience we went to Tad Se waterfall. It was beautiful and swimming was a great time. I even jumped off some ledges which is so not me. Stepping outside of my box is the name of the game.

Headed by boat to the waterfall

Tad Se waterfall

  

Laos has some super great waterfalls.

The first evening we rode the elephants into the jungle where they spend each the night. The following morning we went to retrieve them from the jungle. I witnessed an elephant fight along the way that was kind of intense since my friend was on the neck of one of the elephants. It was impressive how much control the Mahouts had of the animals without even having to hit them. To top off my experience in the morning we were able to bathe the elephants in the river. It was a bit cold but the experience was so amazing I forgot about this and loved every minute of it.

  

The foot of the elephant is hurt and often bleeds due to being injured
in a land mine accident before arriving at the Elephant village.

The stomach on this elephant was enormous.

Two heads are always better than one.

  

Who knew I would ever be this close to an elephant.

  

I love this picture!!

  

Jordan eye to eye.

   

The picture is not great but this is us bathing the elephants.

Jumping off the elephant's head into the water was awesome!!!!

  

  

Falling off/ getting off the elephant after we bathed them.

We also had an exciting evening at the elephant village lodge. Lia and Jordan, I still laugh when I think about how freaked out were were by a squeaky floor. To make a long story short we thought the moving of floor boards when we walked was someone trying to break into out room and scare us. The last excitement of the night was the spider in my room. This is by far the largest spider I have seen so far on my travels. I sit here hoping the spider did not crawl on mm at night since it was there when I went to bed and gone when I woke up. People say that people eat 8 spiders in their lifetime. I think this one was big enough that I would have noticed.

No joke this spider was the size of my hand

 The entire two days is something I will never forget. I had great company and was able to experience something new and exciting. Throughout the two days I was closer to an elephant than I ever thought I would be in my life.

Check out: www.straytravel.asia for more information on how to hop on your own adventure!