Wednesday 5 november 2008
3
05
/11
/Nov
/2008
09:57
Well, I’ve been having a wonderful time trekking through the scenic forests if Laos with tourists. My days of logging are far behind me and are
distant memories now that I am being cared for and I am safe here. Sometimes journalists visit me and my picture is splashed all over glossy magazines around the world! I feel very important and
lucky when this happens.
And last month I had
another big adventure! Apparently many people know about me and how big and strong I am (it’s true!). So last month I met the team from Big Brother
Mouse and I delivered over 600 books to children in rural areas of Hongsa. These children had never owned a book before, and Big Bother Mouse gave everyone their own book to keep forever, for
free! Wow, how great is that!
I felt terribly important as I walked along the dusty paths to many small
villages. Some children had never seen an elephant before and were quite scared of me! ME!! Of course, my beauty soon won them over and by the end of each day I was rewarded with big pats and
hugs from everyone. How lucky am I?
Big Brother Mouse hired
me to visit areas of rural Laos that are isolated during the long rainy season. The roads are inaccessible by cars and trucks, but not by me! I am such a sturdy, safe walker that everyone trusts
me to deliver these very important books to schools and villages.
What an honour! I hope I can go on more treks throughout Laos and help deliver more
Big Brother Mouse books to children.
I’ll definitely let you
know if I do!
Bye
bye,
Love Mae
Dok
Learn more about Big Brother Mouse
Saturday 15 december 2007
6
15
/12
/Dec
/2007
08:51
Sabai dee (hello!) Things have been going very well for me now that I am living with my new mahout
family in Hongsa, Laos.
Instead of getting up early and walking to a logging camp, my days begin with a leisurely stroll through the
forest to collect my brekkie. I am always really hungry and thirsty when I wake up, even though I only sleep for 4 hours each night! So I hunt down my favourite fruits of the forests and have a
big gulp of water from the river. What a great way to start the day!
I have made some great new ele friends since moving to Hongsa, and one of them is my boyfriend! I think he is a
very friendly and handsome elephant indeed! What do you think?
Some
days our mahouts put big seats called howdahs on our backs, and that’s when we know we must be on our best behaviour. On these days we take tourists visiting Laos for walks within the beautiful
Hongsa mountains. This is lots of fun! I get to trot around new sites,
stopping to nibble on leaves and branches when no one is looking. The visitors get to learn all about me and my elephant family, and my mahout gets paid enough money to look after his
family. We are all very happy doing this.
I think ecotourism is a great way to make elephants, tourists and mahouts happy. We all benefit, especially me
now that I am being well-cared for and get enough food to eat.
My favourite time of the day is the afternoon. Before bedtime I get to race down to the river and have a big,
long bath. Look at me swim! I especially like it when my mahout scrubs my back, it tickles! Then it’s back to the forest for dinner time and chats
with my boyfriend. Ahh, life doesn’t get any better than this!
Please come and visit me in Hongsa someday, I can show you some lovely areas of
Laos!
You can visit me at www.elephantadventures.com
Bye bye,
Love Mae Dok, the Asian elephant.
Friday 12 october 2007
5
12
/10
/Oct
/2007
11:14
Hello, today is a very exciting and happy day for me!
This morning some new, friendly people came to visit me. I really liked them and I think they liked me too! Turns out they love me so much
they say I never have to go into the forest and work in a logging camp ever again!
These lovely people from the Elephant Umbrella Fund and ElefantAsia have saved me from a lifetime of logging and now I will be spending my days in the
forest happily munching on bamboo, fruits, grasses - whatever I like, YUM! I will be moving to the mountains near Hongsa, Laos, to live and will give tourists a ride on my back. That’s so
much easier than pulling heavy logs all day!
I am a little scared about moving to a new place and having a new mahout, but I think everyone will be very
nice to me. They have already made my eyes feel much better by taking me to a vet and giving me medicine, and they say I can eat, drink and sleep as much as I like!
Thank you so much to the Elephant Umbrella Fund and ElefantAsia for changing my life. Now I have the chance to
live my jumbo life to the full.
I’ll let you know how my big move goes in my next blog.
Bye bye,
Love MaeDok the Asian elephant
You can check out my new friends at:
Elephants Umbrella Fund
ElefantAsia
Friday 12 january 2007
5
12
/01
/Jan
/2007
11:12
Hello and welcome to my blog!
I don’t have much time to write this, as I am so busy and I must get back to work soon. But let me introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my life.
My name is Mae Dok, this means ‘Mrs Flower’ in the Lao language. I am a 34 year old female Asian elephant, and have
spent most of my life working very hard in logging camps in the remote mountains of Laos. With my mahout (elephant handler) off I trek each day, up and down the mountains, through the forests
until I reach the logging camp. Here I have many ropes tied to me, and then the ropes are also tied to felled logs.
Soon all the mahouts in the logging camp tell me to PULL the logs with all my might!
Up and down the hills I go, all day long, pulling and pushing and carrying the big, heavy logs.
I am a big, strong elephant but, oh, I get very tired. By night time I am very sleepy. Sometimes I am too tired
to chat with my elephant buddies, and sometimes I am too tired to even eat my dinner! I go to sleep and then it’s back to the logging camp the next day to pull more logs.
Life can be very hard; sometimes I get very sad and sometimes very sick too. My eyes hurt a lot. I wish I didn’t have to work this hard all the time, but this is how my mahout makes money to feed
his family – by selling the logs I tow. I would like to have a family of my own one day, but I am too busy working to meet a nice gentleman elephant.
Hopefully this will change one day, and I will not have to work so hard.
Well, back to work now. I hope you will keep me company and read my blog!
Bye bye,
Mae Dok the Asian elephant
