I have an excuse. It’s research. There’s a story in the back of my head about a hunter-gatherer tribe that co-exists with mammoth/mastodon. Shamanistic magic exists in this story universe, and I want to explore the possible interactions between humans and pachyderms with emphasis on pachyderm intelligence. Elephants are the closest stand-in to mammoths/mastodon.
Here’s the problem: I don’t want to just observe elephants. I have and will do so at the Wild Animal park, where their enclosure is so large, you need a decent pair of binoculars to catch detail and nuance. I would like to interact with an elephant, and zoos are just not going to let an unemployed chick with a bachelor’s degree in fine art and some unpublished writing hang out with their elephants.
I’ve chatted with park volunteers, and to even be allowed to shovel elephant poop, you have to have astronomically high standing as a volunteer. Interaction with elephants is limited to employees, and really, only the zoologists with special elephant experience. Pretty much the only employment I’m fit for at the zoo is maybe a tour guide or running a smoothie stand.
I know there are other elephants out there. Apparently, you can rent an Indian elephant to make your Hindu wedding that much more cool. However, the cost of elephant-rental is cost prohibitive. Besides which, I’d rather go to the elephant than have the elephant brought to me. Ten years ago, you could get an elephant ride at the local Ren Faire, but I can’t find any businesses that do that anymore.
I’m aware that human-elephant interaction is fraught with ethical issues. I’m well aware that while elephants are extremely intelligent animals, they can also squish me like a bug, and might be tempted to do so for reasons of their own. I don’t wish to romanticize elephants or contribute to people who keep elephants in negligent or abusive situations.
I really would just like to spend time with an elephant. Suggestions?
I was going to say go to Thailand. I remember when I first saw one on a sidewalk in Bangkok. You know you’ve been there too long (or long enough) when you see that and just look for a way to avoid the hustling mahout.
So far, the sites in Thailand look pretty good. A couple of elephant sanctuaries take paying volunteers for a week or more. To my surprise, Malaysia has elephant sanctuaries as well, and while they are tourist friendly, they don’t seem to have picked up on the long term volunteer idea.
The zoo in Santa Ana, California, used to have elephant rides, and as far as I know still has them sometimes. At least it’s still mentioned on this page:
When googling for it, though, I found an article from this year, where some animal defender’s groups are saying that the elephants were mistreated. I haven’t investigated fully and don’t have an informed opinion about that.
My Ren Fair has elephant rides. Recheck your Ren Fair. I believe there is a private sanctuary near San Marcos, Texas, too. Perhaps there is one in your area.
I vaguely have a dim memory of riding an elephant in some sort of “state fair” situation. For what it’s worth it was really really really boring as hell.
I second this - the sanctuary near Kandy has happy-looking elephants who daily go for walks, bathe, get good eats. Plus the environment there is beautiful and clean - there was no industry in the mountains to speak of when I was there a couple years ago.
It also seemed the Thai sanctuaries are in the habit of caring for the welfare of their animals, as tourists become more aware and concerned of their upkeep. Thailand is undergoing a bit of a flooding problem at the moment so I’d recommend Sri Lanka in the short term. Kandy has 1 - 5 star places you can stay in, incredibly cheap restaurants and you can take a tuktuk to the sanctuary for little money, although the roads are congested so if you have any breathing issues you’re better off in an air-conditioned cab. Winter is a good time to go, weather-wise.
A long time ago, several of my girlfriends and I drove from Denver into Kansas looking for one of the girls boyfriends.
We had a bag of stuff in the car for the trip. Donuts and sodas and some tampax.
So, we find the boy and leave the girl at his hotel. The rest of us decide to go for a ride and explore Kansas.
We see a large field of grass on our left and lo and behold, there is an elephant tied to a rope and staked to a chain in the middle of this field. There is not a person in sight though. Just the elephant. So, we drove right up next to it so we could pet it through the window of the car.
The elephant stuck it’s trunk in the window (mine, btw) and wrapped the trunk around my leg and was trying to pull me out the window. It didn’t get far. We managed to get the trunk unwrapped and out the window before we drove off laughing our fool heads off.
So, we get another brainstorm. This time we’re going to pull up from the other side of the car and only open the back window. This way we can pet the elephant. Our plan was Brilliant!
Until the elephant grabbed our bag of food and tampax and took it out of the car. As we pulled away, the animal was eating the donuts, trying to eat the box they came in, the tampax and the bag itself. We really needed those tampax.
Riddle’s Elephant Sanctuary in Arkansas used to have an “Elephant Experience Weekend” for $700. I don’t know if they still do it or not. You clean up after them, wash them, cut their nails.
I’ve stayed here http://www.elephant-hills.com/ and can heartily endorse it. They have a program where you can care for the elephants during your stay.