Zip lines and Elephants

Two of the best adventures to follow when I finally settled into doing a bit of sightseeing was to do Jungle Zip lines and to head to the Elephant Nature Reserve. The Jungle Zip Lines came first and I was picked up 8am in the morning outside my hotel in a van that then carried us two hours up and up and up into the mountains outside Chiang Mai. We drove up roads at what felt like 90 degree angels past towns tucked into places where you can only imagine how they got there in the first place. With a collection of other foreigners, Japan, Canada, China, France and Germany all represented, we climbed with our crazy Thai guides up into the trees to begin our 50 part movement through the woods. Using harnesses and straps and a break that is literally a “y” piece of bamboo our guides make jokes as they glide through the forest upside down laughing, encourage us to do the same, they seem to like their jobs a little to much. We fly 30 feet between trees, drop 100 meters, swing 50 feet from high spot to high spot. It is such a rush, and you feel like you are living in that middle place between wanting to scream and laugh hovering just between absolute fear and excitement. By the end I am exhausted but feeling so enthused. I become friends with a few Canadian girls, Holly and Monique who were flying along with me, and we spend the afternoon/eve eating Thai Indian food, funny I know and wandering the markets that make up a gorgeous part of the peaceful homeliness of Chaing Mia, good tourist day one, check.

The day that followed was one of the most memorable amazing experiences of my travels and it was visiting the Elephant Nature Part. Now don’t be fooled but there are all sorts of forms of elephant tourism and a lot of it is at the abuse of the Elephants, were they are prodded, beaten chained poorly fed and poorly treated. Although popular, I chose not to do an elephant trek or opt to ride elephants, I more just wanted to experience them and meet them on their level and the Elephant Nature Reserve was that. It is a refugee camp for abused elephants, either through logging, tourism abuse or grievous injury these elephants make their way to a place where they are not chained or penned but allowed to walk free. The founder of this place, the daughter of a medicine man, her name is “Lek” for little, is the mother of these elephants and treats them like her own children. She trains the Manuts, or elephant trainers to not use prods or sticks, but to guide them with their voices and become family members, almost like a little brothers to the elephants. What started as lek with two elephants is now 30 elephants and as many trainers as well as a slew of volunteers and staff but also medical care for elephants. My small group of visitors upon arriving realized how special of a place it was, very few pens but more a resort for elephants where humans take care of there every needs, their payment for the hardships they endured. We get a chance to feed them, pet them, and bath them a few times during the day, and then just walk with them in the open, no fences no chained feet just freely. They are amazing expressive creatures, you can truly tell you when they are happy or sad and they have a very keen reaction to humans as well. After a day of feeding, bathing and walking with them I felt like I had just had a truly spiritual experience, not a paid performance act but an honest beautiful one where I got a chance to treat them, they were not there for my benefit but I was there for there’s and that made it all the more important.