The zoo in my city has a bathtime with elephants program where they let visitors help bathe the beasts, check with local zoos to see if they offer a similar program.
They do not allow visits, and have had a handler, excuse me, “caretaker” killed by Winkie.
Hey, Wendell, why the thread shitting? Seriously? Not only have you completely - and probably deliberately - misconstrued my question, but you feel the need to dig up some “zany” review and post it like it’s meaningful commentary?
Do me a favor, will you? When you feel the urge to pull crap like the above, please go outside and concentrate on converting oxygen into carbon dioxide through normal respiration. You’ll still exist, and you won’t be any more noise to the universe than biologically necessary.
voguevixen, I’ve also ridden an elephant at a fair, years and years ago. Just being near the elephant was pretty cool. They do, it turns out, have hair; it’s just fairly sparse and bristly. But, yeah, not real exciting.
coremelt and JustinC, thank you. Sri Lanka is now on the list. It sounds lovely, and I know Arthur C. Clarke was quite happy there. BTW, what’s a tuktuk?
Smapti, the only random call I’ve received was from a Chinese restaurant 1100 miles away, and they didn’t leave a message. But, I’ll keep that in mind.
not what you’d expect, love your story. How long ago was this? Did the elephant eat the tampons or find another use? Do you remember where in Kansas this took place? It’s kind of flat and same-looking for most of the state.
carnivorousplant, thank you. The site is bookmarked, and it looks like my best opportunity. Winkie’s story is tragic, but I see no reason why the people who take care of her should not be considered caretakers as opposed to handlers. Shouldn’t it be up to them to describe and name their roll in regards to the elephants they care for?
madmonk28, thank you as well. Bookmarked and will be considered.
Implicit, I’ve checked locally, and while the local zoo has excellent conservation programs, the “backstage pass” is really expensive, lasts only 1.5 hours, and doesn’t go near the elephants. sigh Where is your zoo?
Singles joint.
At the bar, next to the peanut bowl.
It reflects their pro PETA philosophy of not using protected contact, while wanting to be buddies with animals that can easily kill you.
Unprotected handling, without a barrier between you and the elephant is also known as mahout handling and may very well be what you want to experience, by using it without dominance, as they do at Hohenwald gets people killed.
Yes, it was tacky of me to point it out like that in my post. 
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BTW, what’s a tuktuk?
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Not an Amazing Race fan, I see (they’re used at least once in almost every season). It’s an auto (motorized) rickshaw. Tuktuk
Phouka, if you ever get to Thailan, Elephant Hills is also just a great place to stay, with lots of cool side trips possible.
I think it was about 1973, 1974, something like that. I’m sorry, I don’t recall the city. We drove there from Denver and we were back on the same day. I think it was a small circus that was in town.
We laughed the entire rest of the day and it soon became a favorite story to tell. I could be misremembering, but I think the elephant ate pretty much everything.
I was so glad when I saw the thread title and remembered this adventure. I’m also glad you enjoyed the telling of it. Thanks.
Has anyone mentioned Thailand yet? 
There are numerous camps in Thailand. I know of someone who recently spent a week in the Elephant Nature Park up North and found it a very worthwhile experience. Closer to Bangkok in Ayutthaya province is Elephantstay. Quite a few others.
However, there’s some pretty bad flooding right now, especially in Ayutthaya. (Hope the elephants are okay. They’ve always moved them to higher ground during past flooding, but this year’s is exponentially worse.) The North may be okay by now but getting up there could prove difficult right now, even by air if the airports down here get socked. The situation should stabilize in another couple of weeks.
And yes, once you get here, living costs are rather inexpensive.
Die and get reincarnated as an elephant… or just become a zoo keeper
There is this African Lion Safari site (turn down the sound before clicking the link) in Ontario, 75 or 100 miles east of Toronto. I visited about 10 years ago.
After driving the long circuit that on it included lions and other cats, giraffes, baboons (that climbed all over visitors’ cars), zebras and other animals, we were about to leave the car (it’s unsafe to do so elsewhere) to visit the elephants but were too late; they were being led into their shelter after being sprayed with water and just prior to the park closing for the day. There were about half a dozen of them, if I recall correctly. There may have been more inside their building.
A simple phone call may answer your questions.
I live in Sri Lanka and have been to both Pinnawela andUdawalawe elephant orphanages. In my opinion Udawalawe is more closer to nature than Pinnawela which caters to tourists.
Other options available to you:
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Going to national parks. This linkwill provide more information. Recently they were calling for volunteers to do the national elephant survey.
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There are lot of domesticated elephants in the Kandy area. For a very small fee to the owner and mahoot you might be able to do your research. US $ 10 will go a long way here.
And tuk tuk is some thing like this
Hope this helps.