Day 2 at BLES

Day 2 at BLES started bright and early at 7:30.  It was easy to wake up due to the fact that we were probably asleep around 8 the night before (there was no TV or internet so we pretty much fell asleep right after dinner) and our little cabin actually got quite cool at night, making it much easier to sleep. The first thing to be done in the morning is round up some bananas for the elephants' morning breakfast. We rode with Lucy to one of the mahouts' houses to load up bananas in the pickup. One of the mahouts (pronounced mah-hoots) gets the bananas delivered to his house in the village instead of having the bananas laying around at BLES.  The reason for this is fairly obvious as elephants are really smart and they would find them and scarf them all.  Also before we get going any farther, a mahout is an elephant herder/caretaker.  The mahouts at BLES are all very nice and love their elephants- they have a mutual respect for each other, so the elephants listen to them (for the most part). However, that is far from the case with mahouts in the rest of Thailand and in Asia.  Mahouts in other areas control their elephants with extreme aggression and cruelty including jabbing them with metal hooks, as is evidenced by the scars all over the elephants' bodies and their torn ears.

That being said, we drove in the Toyota pickup to the mahout's house and loaded up the choicest of bananas and brought them back to the sanctuary.  We unloaded the bananas in a few locations and then sat in a hut to observe the elephants.  It was really surreal to actually see the elephants for the first time.  It is much different than seeing one on TV.  You never get the appreciation of how big they are.  

Bananas waiting for the ellies to arrive

The first two elephants to show up for breakfast were a couple of gals in their 30's named Pang Noi and Pang Suai. First they came trotting down the pathway and took a dip in the pond before getting after the bananas. It was amazing to watch them eat their bananas.  Their trunks are probably the coolest animal appendage ever.  The thing is ridiculous.  The can breathe through it, blow water through it, scratch themselves, use tools, and in this case eat a ton of bananas.  They can even pick up individual bananas because the very end acts like two fingers and can pinch things.  That was really cool to see.

Coming down the hill for breakfast 

Gotta splash around in the water first!

Coming up from the pond

 Pang Noi and Pang Suai eating bananas 

The next elephants to show up was the young bull elephant Mee Chok, who came down with a loud trumpet and came charging down the hill to his bananas.  He was closely followed by Lom and by Pang Thong who acts as kind of a mother/grandmother to the two young ones.  

Having a shower while he snacks away. You can tell that he is still pretty small and his tusks are not full grown- he is around 4 years old and they are fully mature around 16 years.

Mee Chok having a drink of water from the hose!

Next came the Gossip Girls: Wassana, Pang Dow, and Lotus.  These three are never seen apart.  Wassana and Pang Dow both have fairly gruesome foot injuries.  Wassana was injured when she stepped on a landmine and even though it was several years ago it still hasn't fully healed and probably never will.  Pang Dow has a broken ankle that is actually folded up.  She received no medical treatment for years and it is permenantly damaged.  Lotus doesn't have any permanent injuries but at the moment she has a bad lesion that is having trouble healing.  These elephants probably bonded over their injuries and now are very sweet and huddle up together often- they are called the gossip girls because you can often hear them making noise and chatting with each other. 

They often congregate together for a little chat. 

Lots of bananas to go around

This is Wassana- she is around 40 years old. You can see her land mine injury if you look carefully at her left foot, but she gets around just fine and seems pretty darn happy hanging out with her elephant friends all day.

The next elephant to come down for breakfast was the old lady and recent addition to the sanctuary, Boon Thong. She is over 60 years old (maybe approaching 70?) and is in very bad shape.  She is skinny and is a pretty picky eater so they are having a hard time fattening her up. Sadly they don't know if she will have much longer to live because she is in pretty bad shape. But the great thing about BLES is that they take care of each elephant and do the best for them and try to make them as comfortable as possible after their extremely hard lives.

While the elephants were getting their munch on and getting their morning medical treatment we were able to interact with them and pet them.  Their skin is really weird feeling, kind of a softer leathery feel.  

Hanging out with the ellies after breakfast

Petting Wassana. They love having their trunks and jaws rubbed, some even like a scratch under the chin.

Next we watched some of the training of the younger elephants, Mee Chok and Lom.  The training is mostly to help the mahouts and other staff be able to more effectively treat the elephants.  They have several commands: to lift their front or back feet up, to bring their ears forward (the ears are where they take blood), and to lay down (to give them better access to the bottoms of their feet). Lom easily picked up the first command to lift her front foot, but she was getting frustrated with some of the other commands. Mee Chok was quickly picking up all the commands and was being a real show off about it! Lom was a little frustrated but they are learning.

Lom getting ready to show off her skills 

Mee Chok being a total show off.

After elephant training time we set off on our morning elephant walk.  We followed the Gossip Girls and Pang Noi and Pang Suai. BLES does own approximately 500 acres of land for the elephants but not all of it is connecting.  The mahouts have to navigate the elephants down roads and near farmers' fields and keep them from running amuck. If the elephants accidentally got into the farmers' crops BLES would have to compensate them. The elephants responded very well to commands from the mahouts and slowly worked their way out to their grazing area.  Elephants need somewhere near 200 kg (450-500 pounds) of food each day so a majority of their time is spent munching.  They eat bamboo, banana trees, grass, purdy much anything green. We brought along stools and spent a couple hours just watching the elephants do their thing.  Eventually two of the girls- Wassana and Lotus- decided to come walking between us in order to get at some choice foliage which was funny because they very politely waited for us to move before coming through.  

Walking with the elephants (gossip girls seen here).

As you can see the mahouts bring along hammocks so they can rest while the elephants graze.

Resting while the elephants graze

After the morning walk we returned to the sanctuary for lunch.  Lunch was some noodles, fruit, and usually a banana snack (fried bananas were awesome). 

The lunch set up

After lunch a vet from the state came to look at the elephants and take some blood samples.  It was cool to be able to watch the vet work and hear his assessment of the animals.  We got to help hide medication in some bananas for the elephants to eat.  We were lucky to be able to see the vet and learn more about elephant care, because a vet only comes around every couple of months or when they have an emergency.

Boon Thong getting looked over by the vets. You can see how skinny she is.

Lotus saying hi after having her blood taken. She is probably hoping for some treats.

After the vet it was nap time and we went back to the cabin to freshen up and get ready for dinner.  Dinner was curry, &steamed rice, and other assorted vegetables.  Quite delicious.  There were no children this time but it was nice to talk to Lucy and Katherine about elephants and animals in general. After dinner we headed to bed excited for a third and final full day at BLES!