Day 3 at BLES

Day 3 at BLES started off much the same way as Day 2.  We got up early again and rounded up the bananas for the elephants' breakfast.  This time we seperated a few of the most ripe bananas to use for de-worming the elephants.  In order to give them the medicine you must open the banana and shove pills into them.  It is important to not put too many pills in the bananas or give them the medicated ones one after the other because they are smart and will figure out they are being medicated and spit them out.  On this particular morning Wassana and Lotus took their medicine without complaint but Pang Dow figured it out after a few bananas and spit them all back up.  They were just going to try again the next morning.  At BLES they medicate for worms approximately once per month.

Breakfast for the people got a little interesting because the hut where breakfast is served was also the place where we were hiding the bananas to use for medication.  While we were eating Lotus and Wassana figured this out and came to have a look and possibly snag a treat.  They were very cute and did their best begging for treats.  Jenny fed Lotus and got to touch the elephant tongue when she threw in a banana. It is amazingly soft considering all the rough food they eat- it almost feels like the inside of your cheek. I also got to experience the weight and strength of their trunks when they were searching for food.  Lotus threw her trunk on my shoulder and it had to have weighed as much as a person.  It was crazy to actually feel the power that these animals have and the complexity of the movements that they can perform with this awesome appendage.  I actually want one I don't care what it looks like.

Breakfast with the ellies 

Hiding the deworming medicine in the bananas 

They know the bananas are being kept in the hut!

Uh oh. Lotus sniffed out the banana stash!

After breakfast and de-worming we went out on our morning walk with the elephants.  This time we headed for the river but the mahouts figured it was too hot to make it all the way (not for the ellies but for the tourists apparently).  Instead we found a nice mud puddle and baby stream for the elephants to stomp through.  We were traveling with the Gossip Girls again.  Wassana took the opportunity to give herself a nice mud bath.  She then proceeded to greet Jenny and Lucy and shake all the mud off in their faces while I was safely far away taking pictures of course.  The elephants settled into grazing and we set up our stools to watch again.  It was a peaceful morning and all the dogs took the opportunity to take a nap.  We were quite the group: 3 elephants, 5 people, and 8 dogs. After a couple hours we headed back to the sanctuary for a little bit of noodles and fruit for lunch.

Hanging out on the elephant walk

Ellies playing in the stream

Yummies

Why yes I am quite muddy and wet.

Watching the elephants graze

The dogs pretty much nap at every opportunity on the walk.

Sleepy pup 

Nomming

The whole group walking

During lunch the young elephants decided it would be nice to have a bath and jumped into the pond.  It was funny watching them because they acted like young kids and would dunk each other and hold each other under the water.  They looked like they were having a great time.  While they were playing in the water a Thai farming family actually stopped and got out of their car to watch the elephants.  They were really entertained by the silly ellies playing. It was probably the first time they saw elephants just hanging out without being controlled by a human.

Playing in the pond

After lunch we headed off in a makeshift truck (I wish I had a picture but it was basically an engine with wheels and a bed) to go fetch some banana trees.  Apparently elephants love to eat banana trees.  The trees we harvested were part of a banana farm of one of the mahouts and the trees were done producing bananas.  Three mahouts went with me, Jenny, and Lucy.  The mahouts cut down the trees and we brought them to the truck.  It was a good little workout and it gave us a chance to see the village as we drove through.

Carrying banana trees

Banana trees loaded up in the truck

When we got back from gathering banana trees it was time to vaccinate and de-worm some puppies that were living on the grounds.  The puppies were some offspring from one of the mahout's dogs and I believe they will be given homes in the village when they are old enough.  There were four of the little rascals so Jenny snagged two of them.  I gave them the de-worming medicine (which they actually seemed to enjoy) and Lucy injected them with the vaccine which they barely noticed.  Then, so we didn't mix them up (because all four of them were pretty much identical) I snagged the other two and Jenny put down the first two and we repeated the process.  So not only were we helping the elephants but we got to hang out with some puppies as well.

Puppies! They are about 7 weeks old and just insanely flopsy and adorable.

After taking care of the pups we freshened up and had another awesome dinner and another night of conversation with Katherine and Lucy.  I volunteered to use Bartlett and West resources to help them create some maps which could be very helpful to them.  We enjoyed a beer and some wine (courtesy of Katherine who had leftovers from when her parents visited, but she is pregnant now) and enjoyed some conversation and it was an all around good evening.  We even got to play some  "What time is it Mr. Wolf" with Katherine's two children- Hope is 6 and Noah is 4.  She also has Aaron who is almost 2 and she has one on the way. 

All in all it was a great experience and I'm really glad we made it part of our trip and we look forward to helping out in the future.  We packed up that night for an early departure to phase 3 of our trip which is BEACH and RESORT TIME in Koh Samui!