Thailand and its love of elephants
National Elephant Day - Thailand and its love of elephants
Right, in Thailand its not only elephant day. It is NATIONAL elephant day. In Chiang Mais Mae Rim district, more precisely Mae Sa elephant camp, the love for elephants are shown by the feeding of no less than 70 chuaks เชือก (a special title in Thai for showing respect for elephants) an annual buffet at the 13th of March.
Right, in Thailand its not only elephant day. It is NATIONAL elephant day. In Chiang Mais Mae Rim district, more precisely Mae Sa elephant camp, the love for elephants are shown by the feeding of no less than 70 chuaks เชือก (a special title in Thai for showing respect for elephants) an annual buffet at the 13th of March.
Mae Sa elephant camp also holds a Guinness World Record for the largest painting ever created by a group of elephants. Eight elephants contributed!Elephant day is about respect and fun (sanuk) at the same time. Typical “Thai ways” one might say.
Places to go elephant riding around Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai and the monsoon forest of Northern Thailand is also a great place to go elephant riding . Why not go in the early morning to avoid the crowds. Mae Sa, Mae Taman, Chiang Dao are all well worth the visit. The Patara camp teaches you how to become a mahout and here you get a bit closer to the elephants, and its not all that touristic.Someone maybe remembers the struggles of the elephant cow Motala, she stepped on a land mine close to the border of Myanmar. She was treated in the Lampang elephant hospital and was the first elephant in the world to receive a prosthetic leg. At the Lampang Conservation Center there is more of an educational show, where you can see elephants at work.
Chiang Mai and the monsoon forest of Northern Thailand is also a great place to go elephant riding . Why not go in the early morning to avoid the crowds. Mae Sa, Mae Taman, Chiang Dao are all well worth the visit. The Patara camp teaches you how to become a mahout and here you get a bit closer to the elephants, and its not all that touristic.Someone maybe remembers the struggles of the elephant cow Motala, she stepped on a land mine close to the border of Myanmar. She was treated in the Lampang elephant hospital and was the first elephant in the world to receive a prosthetic leg. At the Lampang Conservation Center there is more of an educational show, where you can see elephants at work.
Asian vs African
The elephants in Thailand are of the Elephas maximus species. These Asian or Indian elephants are smaller than their African counterparts. Actually, they are closer related to the mammoth than to the African elephants. White elephants, a kind of albinos, have always been considered to bring good luck in S.E Asia. We can also see how elephants plays an important role both in Hinduism where devoters pray to the god Ganesh to overcome obstacles and to be successful in studies, and in Buddhist legend where we have the jataka story of the Bodhisattva, the white elephant Chaddanta, with his six tusks - one of the previous life's of the Buddha.
The elephants in Thailand are of the Elephas maximus species. These Asian or Indian elephants are smaller than their African counterparts. Actually, they are closer related to the mammoth than to the African elephants. White elephants, a kind of albinos, have always been considered to bring good luck in S.E Asia. We can also see how elephants plays an important role both in Hinduism where devoters pray to the god Ganesh to overcome obstacles and to be successful in studies, and in Buddhist legend where we have the jataka story of the Bodhisattva, the white elephant Chaddanta, with his six tusks - one of the previous life's of the Buddha.
