Tuesday 27 october 2009
2
27
/10
/Oct
/2009
04:06
Greetings from rainy Hongsa. I’m now officially enjoying my summer
vacation roaming the hilly forests of Hongsa.
With the rainy season well and truly settled in Laos, I don’t have any visitors to take on trekking tours.
Also my mahout Mr Pheng needs to help plant rice fields back in his home village. So Mr Pheng has cut me loose and given me free access to the mountainous regions of Laos that I love the most.
Here is a picture of Mr Pheng and some of his friends saying goodbye to me before I head off own my own elephant adventure.
It’s quite common for domesticated elephants in Sayaboury to be set free in the wet season. Mahouts are busy planting crops and tourism and
logging both slow down because of the rainy weather. It’s a good thing that when we are working we are tethered in the forests at night so we know exactly what forest fruits and plants to eat and
which ones to stay away from. Sometimes we even meet wild elephants to make friends with during our break.
Mr Pheng will come to find me very soon. I know it sounds strange, but Mr Pheng will have no problems knowing
where I am. It may take him a few days of searching the hills and valleys to find me, but he will. He knows I’ll be hanging out somewhere not far from a stream or river, somewhere close to a nice
big patch of tasty bamboo. If that doesn’t work he can always just follow my jumbo footsteps! Also, I’m wearing a pretty bamboo bell around my neck. Despite my size, us elephants are actually
extremely quite when we walk and we could sneak up on you quite easily if we wanted to!
Well, my holidays are coming to an end. Soon it will be the tourist season and I’ll be bathing in attention
from more international visitors excited for me to take them on treks through Hongsa.
Until then if you look hard enough, you may very well find me roaming around
the country side!
Bye bye,
Mae Dok the elephant
Saturday 28 february 2009
6
28
/02
/Feb
/2009
10:52
Well, what can I say. I’ve just come back from one of the biggest parties of my life. The 2009 Elephant Festival was such an amazing time, I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival!
Me and 13 of my elephant buddies walked for 5 days to reach the Elephant Festival held in Sayaboury on the 14th & 15th of February 2009. Bit of a hike but it was well worth it. We arrived a
few days before the festival begun so we got to rest up and greet all the other elephants as they arrived, one by one.
A total of 60 elephants turned out for the festival, and 80,000 people! It was a huge, two-day celebration that included logging demonstrations, markets, ceremonies and my favourite, the river
crossings. Each morning I’d wake up and take part in the parade, walking from one side of town to the other. This included a stomp through the Nam Hung River with all 60 of my elephant mates!
Some elephants got so excited they forgot they had mahouts on their back and tried to dive underwater!
The Elephant Festival was created by the same team that help rescued me from the logging industry, ElefantAsia. Seeing as though I was the bell of the ball, I had my makeup done each morning by a
lovely volunteer. I was the prettiest-looking elephant at the festival and everyone stopped to take my photo. I don’t mind, I’m used to that now!
Sayaboury Provincial authorities believe the festival raised an approximate two million dollars through handicraft, accommodation, transport and food and drink sales. That’s a huge amount for one
of Laos’ most rural and poorest districts. I’m proud that everyone in Laos made such an effort to come to Sayaboury and join in this celebration of everything ele. It makes me very positive for
the future of my species, as so many people showed their support for us.
The 2010 Elephant festival will be in February again, and most likely will be held in my hometown of Hongsa. I’ll be there will bells on, most likely literally! Just letting you know now so you
can start making your travel plans now :)
You can read more about the 2009 Elephant Festival in the article Sayaboury Stomp.
Or view all the festival’s press reviews here.
See you at the 2010 festival,
Mae Dok
Tuesday 16 december 2008
2
16
/12
/Dec
/2008
08:58
Well I think it’s time I told you a little bit more about myself and about other female elephants working in
the logging industry.
Once upon a time our mahouts allowed us to have as many babies as we liked, and many of us had our first calf
when we were 15 years old (quite an acceptable age for an elephant!) Sometimes we were able to have up to 8 babies in one lifetime, imagine how tiring that would have been! But that was ok,
because we all lived in a matriarchal society and we adored having calves around, despite the fact that they could be very cheeky and naughty sometimes.
But then things changed and we were made to work very hard i
n the logging industry.
It takes a female elephant about 4 years to raise a baby, and this was seen as a waste of time and money by some mahouts. They were only concerned about making money in the immediate
short-term and did not worry about what would happen when their elephant got too old to work. Who would take-over working once their current elephant got too old? This question was never asked,
and now there are very few baby elephants around and many old elephants.
As I’m sure you know, us Asian elephants are an
endangered species. We need to start having more babies to ensure we can keep living in Laos! That’s why ElefantAsia have designed a sponsorship program, to keep Asian elephants living and
working happily forever.
You can change an elephant’s life for only €1,500. Seems a lot of money, I know, but it’s not a lot
considering our size, life expectancy, intelligence and endangered status. €500 from this goes towards a female elephant’s veterinary health checks while she is pregnant, and after the birth of
the calf. The remaining €1000 is given in instalments to the mahout who has sacrificed their immediate salary to ensure the survival of elephants on planet Earth. These mahouts need to be
congratulated and recognised for thinking and caring about the long-term survival of an endangered species.
So maybe you know of some people at work, a sporting team or charity organisation who would like to sponsor a baby elephant’s birth? Every female elephant that
becomes pregnant is a cause for celebration in Laos. A calf’s birth is seriously wonderful news these days. Imagine how proud you would feel to know you were the main contributing factor in this
occurring. Well done!
So please visit ElefantAsia’s website for details on how you can
sponsor the birth of a baby elephant.
Tuesday 16 december 2008
2
16
/12
/Dec
/2008
06:21
Hi again. Thanks for all of your kind wishes for when I was sick. I am feeling much better now, thank you!
Us girl elephants are social creatures and love getting together for a bit of a goss
over the lunchtime bamboo. Well, I’ve heard from some jumbo friends of mine that the Sayaboury government and
ElefantAsia are planning a huge elephant festival in Sayaboury next year. The 2009 Elephant Festival will be held on the weekend of Valentine’s Day, 14th-15th of February. There will be an
elephant of the year competition, I reckon if I was entered that contest I’d win!
Apparently 100 of my elephant buddies will be going to the 2009 Elephant Festival! I really hope I get to go
along too, maybe I will see some old logging work mates of mine there. Sayaboury is about 100km away from where I live. It will require a lot of planning if I wish to attend the
festivities, but I think it will be worth it.
I’ve heard that there will also be a huge elephant procession, elephant bathing (my favourite event!), a baci ceremony, markets, music and much more! My old logging buddies will also be doing
logging demonstrations, just to show everyone how big and strong we really are.
So please come and visit me and my friends at the
2009 Elephant Festival. We are very proud to show-off all our talents, beauty and skills to you!
You can learn more about the 2009 Elephant Festival at the offical Elephant Festival website.
Hope to see you there!
Bye bye,
Mae Dok
Thursday 20 november 2008
4
20
/11
/Nov
/2008
10:55
Hello again. Oh dear, I’ve had quite a terrible week, but I’m happy to be back spending my days in the forest
and blogging again. A couple of weeks ago I came over all dizzy. I felt very weak and decided to have a little bit of a lie down, just until I felt better.
Now, I should have realised that I wasn’t very well at all, as elephants only lie down when bathing in the river or feel very safe and happy. I wasn’t either! In fact I was feeling very sick! My tummy was hurting a lot and I think maybe I ate something I shouldn’t have or maybe I had yukky intestinal
worms. I felt quite poorly indeed.
Anyway, the ground was beckoning, it looked so nice and comfy. And once I
lay down, I didn’t get up for 2 days! Ohhh, my belly was rumbling and so sore. I didn’t know what to do! I was deeply unhappy and very worried that I would never play in the forests again.
Fortunately I could tell my mahout was also very worried about me. He was making
many phone calls and brought me food and water, not that I really felt like eating. On the 2nd day
a big car with an elephant sticker on the side turned up me. It was the Sayaboury Mobile Vet Unit. My mahout had called the vets and they had come all the way to make me feel better!
The lovely vets gave me an injection in my ear! This is because my ear is full of big veins that are easy to
get to. It hurt a little but not as much as my tummy, so I didn’t really mind. They gave me 50litres of hydrating fluid!! And I tell you what, I really started to feel a lot better after that. In
fact I felt so good that within a few hours I hopped back on to my 4 feet again!
Thank goodness for the Sayaboury Mobile Vet Unit, funded by ElefantAsia. Without them I really think I would be
a dead dodo by now. The car travels around the Sayaboury Province providing free veterinary help to elephants like me. Thank you so much!
Click here for more info on the Sayaboury
Mobile Vet Unit run by ElefantAsia.
Bye Bye,
Love MaeDok
