My wife and I recently spent a month in Thailand. After escaping the madness of Bangkok we spent the next 7 days in the Maetaeng Valley, about 90 km North of Chiang Mai. The area is still very rural and mountainous. There are only 2 small hotels and a few family owned bed and breakfast type places. We stayed with a nice family in their extra room. Here we got a much closer look at the life and culture in the valley.
The odd thing about this place is the staggering number of elephant camps. These camps offer experiences to tourists on a massive scale. Almost all of the tourists come up just for the day from Chiang Mai. Each day thirty or more, very full, buses arrive at just one of the many camps in the valley. Like the cruise ships in Cozumel, they unload hordes of strangers and the place is bustling with activity for most of the day. In the afternoon the busses head back down to the city and the elephants are returned to their stalls where the Mahouts (elephant handlers) feed and chain them for the night.
The services offered vary quite a bit. In the bigger camps the elephants are brought out early, fed and chained up to wait for the mobs of mostly Chinese
guests to arrive. Most tourists ride the elephants in heavy steel chairs made for two passengers. Huge blankets are draped across the elephants spine to protect it but most bear the scars of constant pressure. The Mahout rides on the neck/head of the elephant guiding them along the well trodden trail across the river and through the forest. The trip takes thirty minutes or so. Then the tourists are offloaded on platforms like a conveyor belt and replaced with others. It goes on all day this way. The tourists get their souvenir photo, are fed then loaded into an ox cart ride to go see other attractions.
Some camps are a little nicer. They allow riding the elephants but only 1 rider at a time and without the big steel seat. Others are a more kind experience where one can feed and walk next to the elephants and get to know them a bit. They even take them down to the river for a bath and the elephants actually seem to enjoy it.
guests to arrive. Most tourists ride the elephants in heavy steel chairs made for two passengers. Huge blankets are draped across the elephants spine to protect it but most bear the scars of constant pressure. The Mahout rides on the neck/head of the elephant guiding them along the well trodden trail across the river and through the forest. The trip takes thirty minutes or so. Then the tourists are offloaded on platforms like a conveyor belt and replaced with others. It goes on all day this way. The tourists get their souvenir photo, are fed then loaded into an ox cart ride to go see other attractions.
Some camps are a little nicer. They allow riding the elephants but only 1 rider at a time and without the big steel seat. Others are a more kind experience where one can feed and walk next to the elephants and get to know them a bit. They even take them down to the river for a bath and the elephants actually seem to enjoy it.
But even here the elephants are only a commodity, an asset to make money. One hundred years ago there were lots of wild elephants living in the Maetaeng valley. As humans moved in, they displaced the elephants, capturing and training
them to work in the logging industry destroying the natural habitat. The locals
killed them for damaging crops and invaded their forests until no more wild elephants survive. The forests were mostly logged away and the remaining refugee elephants were put into captivity now to entertain the tourists. They are bred and trained to be passive using an inhumane method called phajaan (the crush). The larger males are mostly unwanted as they are usually hard to train and control. The females have their babies taken away or sold to other camps because they won't behave and walk the trails properly. If they see their babies they will run to them and not obey the Mahouts commands or even pay attention to
the Goad Aṅkuśa. (sharp pointed hook). I had tears in my eyes watching these beautiful animals labor along with pairs of smiling tourists on their backs that had no idea of the suffering they were causing to the animal beneath them. When I got up close I could see in the elephant's eyes the sad truth of their daily lives.
them to work in the logging industry destroying the natural habitat. The locals
killed them for damaging crops and invaded their forests until no more wild elephants survive. The forests were mostly logged away and the remaining refugee elephants were put into captivity now to entertain the tourists. They are bred and trained to be passive using an inhumane method called phajaan (the crush). The larger males are mostly unwanted as they are usually hard to train and control. The females have their babies taken away or sold to other camps because they won't behave and walk the trails properly. If they see their babies they will run to them and not obey the Mahouts commands or even pay attention to
the Goad Aṅkuśa. (sharp pointed hook). I had tears in my eyes watching these beautiful animals labor along with pairs of smiling tourists on their backs that had no idea of the suffering they were causing to the animal beneath them. When I got up close I could see in the elephant's eyes the sad truth of their daily lives.
This plight of the Asian Elephant in Thailand is sadly paralleled by the Kayan people of Burma (now Myanmar). In the 80s and 90s the Kayan were killed and forced from their homes due to war and discrimination. These people have a rich and ancient culture including their own language and have lived in a very simple way in the forest for hundreds of years. Now many of them live in tourist camps in the Maetaeng valley and other places as refugees. Those Ox cart rides the tourists get after the elephant ride, takes them to the longneck camps. There, tourists get the souvenir picture and maybe buy a trinket piece of jewelry from the ladies with the rings around their necks. They can't really talk to the Kayan or understand them unless the Kayan have learned to speak some English or Chinese. They are mostly reduced to a tourist attraction. The company that owns the camp, control the Kayan much like an elephant. They are not slaves but they have few options for work or prosperity other than in the camps as the Thai government still doesn't recognize them as citizens. I suppose it is a better life than being abused or killed in their home country plus they are encouraged to preserve their culture, but they must feel terrible sadness for losing so much and having little security in their future.
When I was a kid, I remember seeing the elephant and the Kayan tribes in National Geographic and was fascinated by both. I remember thinking how much I would like to meet them up close and find out how they live and how they feel. I dreamt of exotic lands and things so different from my protected little concrete world. At last I got the chance to go there and visit them but my dream has been shattered by the reality of what it is like now. I was born too late and I missed my chance because those National Geographic moments have been exposed, transformed or no longer exist.
I am torn in this case as to what is the correct thing to do. If we don't visit the Kayan or the elephants how will they survive? If we do visit them are we perpetuating the sad reality of their lives?
As humans, we devour the world around us. The only things we save are the things that are worth money or sometimes, if we are lucky, the things we love. If only we loved more things and devoured less.
