Elephant Camp and My New Friend Stampi!!

17/04/2012 3:14 PM

Shaking hands with a monkey!

I really am on the countdown at this point. It really is setting in. To be honest, at least after today, I’m not entirely ready to end this journey. I’ve had, to say the least, a wonderful morning/afternoon.

Yesterday I booked an elephant excursion which I was somewhat hesitant about given that I'm not generally into touristy outings, but this was fantastic. I woke up at my regular time, around 6 AM, went for my morning walk around the morning market, had breakfast and was picked  up at my guesthouse round 8:30. There were five of us altogether, 2 girls from Finland, as well as a couple from the UK currently living in Sydney. So we arrived at the elephant camp just after 9 and we were introduced to our elephants. Since we were an uneven number, I ended up with my own elephant, which worked out fantastically.... I named him Stampi... obviously. 

Stampi Laughing

A bit of background: there are around 15 elephants at this camp, all Females, except one young male, who is kept separate. They have all been rescued from abuse and mistreatment by locals who use them in the lumber industry. They range in age from 6 years to 37 years old. The reason they are all females is the simple fact that they are easier to train and more sociable around people. There is a plan in the future for a breeding facility, however, they believe that the majority of the elephants they care for have been mistreated so badly that they will not be able to reproduce. As unfortunate as it is, they currently have pretty much the best life possible. Each elephant has her own Mahout, which is her caregiver as well as her driver. They each do two 1 hour rides per day, and the rest of the time are kept well fed and bathed daily. They eat about 250 KG of Bamboo per day, so the upkeep is relatively expensive; they are so well fed in fact that one elephant, nicknamed Hangover, is rather obese and is currently on a diet. 

My elephant, who I named Stampi, was only 8 years old so she was young and called naughty by her Mahout, however, I had no issues with her. So we arrived, met with our elephants, and got onto them.

Now, the elephants are mounted with a seating platform for two people, somewhat akin to an old fashion rollercoaster car, with massive amounts of padding between the wood and their back. First, I started out sitting on the seat, but after some convincing, the Mahout let me sit on her neck and “drive” her. She behaved quite well aside from the occasional blast of water at me from her trunk. It was fantastic.

Riding Stampi

After the ride, you can buy bananas to feed to the elephants... you get about 30 bananas for $1 so I fed her quite well, along with a few other greedy elephants who couldn’t resist. 

After this we took a boat ride upstream to see a waterfall, that well, isint really a water fall during the dry season, but the boat ride was nice and was interesting to see nonetheless. Upon returning from our boat ride, we had lunch, some veggies, curried beef, salad and rice. After this we were free to do as we please for a few hours. 

The compound has a few other sites, including a monkey, currently awaiting transport to a new home, as well as a classic car collection and a swimming pool. After meeting with the monkey, literally... we shook hands; I headed over to the pool. This was the icing on the cake for this excursion. Imagine a huge pool, with a waterfall, Jacuzzi, and pool side bar that overlooks a beautiful river. So we relaxed there for a few hours, and then headed back to LP.

enjoyable afternoon

So here I am; its my last night here, I'm kind of sad, I really like this place and don’t particularly move, but its time for a change and a return to the real world.

Tomorrow I will get on a 10 hour bus ride to Vientiane at 7:15 AM and spend two nights there. Sooo not really looking forward to tomorrow, but what can I say? This afternoon I will just spend packing and picking up a few things here before moving on.

All for now!