Jumbo Camp Elephant Training Centre 27.02.10 - 28.02.10

Hill trekking tours are the most popular activity in the surrounding areas of Chiang Mai, so we book to go on one combined with an overnight stay at an elephant training camp. The three hour afternoon trek is tough due to the heat but we're lucky to have chosen a tour that doesn't seem to be very popular as we're the only two on it. Our 'private' guide Leung warms to Greg quickly as they exchange language lessons in Thai, English and French.

Leung showing us a field of soya beans

He explains that the local villagers burn a lot of the forest here, we walk through a lot of burning ash, for mushrooms. The mushrooms grow well in the burnt remains, however he's very saddened by the loss of wildlife and perfectly healthy vegetation. Much of the area is burnt but there are still some beautiful bamboo groves with their fresh green leaves swaying in the breeze.

look at the state of Greg's feet after our walk!

We finish our walk at the entrance to the Jumbo Camp Elephant Training Centre and are shown our sleeping quarters for the night, a one sided, straw roofed bamboo house on stilts

with spectacular views over the hill valley, rice paddies and elephants lazily crunching their food below. Idyllic, and especially so because we were the only ones there. It was a real privilege to be there with the elephants and have time to observe each of them, there were five, learning their characters. Dodo was the youngest, at four years, and seemingly the most difficult to train. The biggest one, who took us for a ride, however, seemed pretty naughty too. He always wanted to stop and look around for food. Every two steps he would reach out his trunk for some fresh bamboo but most of the good stuff had already been taken. This was a much used route and virtually every plant, bush or tree within reaching distance of the path had been destroyed. He resorted to stripping off the bark and munching on that instead and soon after we'd start to feel the vibrations in his tummy before it emerged from the other end! His mahout tried desperately to get him to go in the right direction by calling out to endlessly. Eventually we made it round the circuit but not without many snack breaks first. Greg treated him to some watermelon and apple before they removed the seat. The elephants are brought here for a few months to be trained in how to pick up logs, carry things and generally go in the right direction when asked to. We have learned that all Thai elephants are, in fact, the property of the government and are protected from having their tusks removed or from having to carry too much weight. Although they're chained up here, to keep them from wandering off, they're very well cared for by each of their live in mahouts, having three baths a day and plenty of banana trees to eat.

While Leung kindly prepares our dinner we sit and watch them going about their business, eating, being led around the park by their mahout, bathing. They're very enjoyable animals to watch because they can be very funny, scratching their bums on trees, causing the whole tree to shake vigorously or rolling in the dusty mud to cool off. We have to climb the hill to our 'room' early before it gets dark because we've forgotten to bring a torch. It's a full moon tonight though so it's not too dark. Our sleep is a bit restless though because of all the animal noises- frogs, sekadas, dogs and in the early hours of the morning the village's resident cockerels, and it's actually really cold in the early morning which we did not expect.

The next day, as part of our tour, we do a bit of rafting although there's not much water in the river and go to visit the long neck tribe village where the ladies wear metal neck coils, increasing their number each year, traditionally believed to protect them from tigers. If they had the coils removed they would die because their necks would be too weak to support their heads.