I’m not even sure there are words to describe our unique day today. We visited Chai Lai Orchid Elephant Sanctuary. We met our tour guide BB and a sweet mama elephant with her daughter (7 years old) and baby named Bamboo (1 years old). We then hiked up and down hilly paths, by rice fields and over a precarious bamboo bridge to an open field with more elephants!
My favorite picture of the day
I love how our guide BB and Josh just walked and talked. Josh had a lot of questions for him. And BB carried lunch ingredients in his backpack basket.
The littles were getting hot and tired so BB made hiking sticks for them with his knife and bamboo.
We learned that these elephants eat 20 hours a day and sleep for 4. We made medicine balls for them of tamarind (laxative), salt, rice husks (fiber) and bananas (flavor). We took turns mashing the ingredients together and forming them into balls. We fed the elephants the medicine, then sugar cane, then grasses. We could feed them two ways…lifting the food high over our head and saying “bon, bon” then they opened their mouths and we put it straight in. Or we could hold the food in our hands and grabbed it with their trunk and put it in their mouth that way.
These babies (Orchid and Banjee) were both girls around 3 months old. They were not trained or mellow like their mamas. They were wild and barreled into us for food. But they were so cute and just loved to play. The older elephants were beautiful, gentle giants. They loved to eat and be petted. After we fed them we took them in the river for a bath. Immediately after, they went right back to rolling in the mud and throwing dirt on their backs. It’s their version of sunscreen and bug repellent so you can’t really blame the, but it was kinda funny.
After elephant playtime we enjoyed a delicious lunch BB made…fried rice wrapped in banana leaves with chicken and what he called pumpkin. We were guessing butternut squash maybe. But either way it was yummy and you couldn’t beat the view!
We said goodbye to the elephants and took a ride to beautiful waterfalls, floated down a bamboo raft (Caleb got in some rowing practice š), and even visited a local Karen Hilltribe village. It was such unique experience of a new (to us) culture and an incredible time with these majestic elephants!
What an incredible day! We have seen elephants in Africa and ridden them, but I’ve never had as close-up and personal experience as you did. And then to top it off by rafting down a river… and not a quiet one, That water looked like it was moving! We love and miss you, but are excited about the adventures you are having
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