How to get on an elephant … and other useful tips

One – Have a very cooperative elephant to raise her leg

Two – Place your right hand over her ear

Three – Hoist yourself up and pretend you’re getting on a very massive horse!

Elephants are simply amazing creatures, gentle giants who are also intelligent and as individual as any human – although on the whole much more patient and kind. Asian elephants are smaller than their African cousins and many rely on the partnership they have with their mahout (elephant carers) for survival, as has been the case for generations of Asian elephants. Unfortunately, changing habitats and changing work means that the Asian elephant is highly endangered. In 2007, it was estimated (and it’s only an estimate) only 60,000 Asian Elephants were left; about 45,000 in the wild and around 15,000 domesticated elephants. In a continent where hundreds of thousands of elephants used to roam, habitat loss is the single most influencing factor in the decline of Asian Elephants.

We visited two places in Asia to see elephants – Laos and Thailand. In Laos, the elephant population is thought to be between only 500 to 1,000. At the Elephant Village we attended in Laos, all their elephants are ex-logging. Two are blind in one eye, in their 60s and are best friends. I fell in love with both of them, they were the grand dames of the village – Mae Cot and Mae Boun Nam.    

We’ll have a series of elephant articles coming up in the next few weeks.

Photo: Christina Wolfe – Adore Animals Foundation’s Lisa Louden with elephant Mae Nam at Elephant Village near Luang Prabang, Laos.