Cowgirl Megan

Well, since my return, I've become the official cow handler at the park. Luckily, the brown cow seems a little more accepting of people now, and doesn't start bucking anytime someone approaches her. Essentially my job entails letting Veggie & Terrian (I was hoping someone would have given them better names while I was gone...) out in the morning, mucking out their stalls and putting them away in the evening.

Occaisionally I'm faced with greater challenges, such as when Terrian (the brown cow) breaks free of her rope. Veggie roams free & is generally fairly docile, but for some reason when Terrian is off her rope, the two go crazy. Last week, one of the volunteers casually mentionned to me that she had seen our two cows racing down the road, about a kilometer away. Grabbed a bunch of bananas (elephants aren't the only ones who love them!), and set off in persuit. Finally found them about 2 or 3 kilometers away. They had joined a huge herd of cattle that are taken down to a field near the river to graze every day. Luckily my cows weren't too difficult to pick out - they looked like two poodles amidst a pack of mutts.

Carefully tiptoed through the herd (most cows here have big horns). Veggie finally noticed me (she generally comes when I call her), and looked at me like "Oh! You've come to join us?" Being the younger sister, she'll follow Terrian, so I started feeding Terrian my bunch of bananas, while leading her back to the road. One problem. It seemed that in the half hour they had been mingling with the herd, Terrian had gained the admiration of one of the water buffalos. I don't know if it was her shiny coat, or the fact that she actually had some meat on her bones, but he was determined to follow her. So there I am, running towards the road with a galloping Terrian behind me (trying to catch the bananas), a water buffalo following dutifully behind her, and Veggie bringing up the rear, wondering what all the fuss is about. Luckily for me (and Terrian), by the time we got to the road, one of the mahouts had shown up on his motorbike and was able to scare the buffalo away long enough for us to make our escape...

The park has been a busy place since my return! All the reporters who have visited the park recently have really made a difference. This week, there were 25 volunteers! It's great for Lek - more money for the elephants - but it really changes the atmosphere at the park. Last time I was here, the days were busy with day visitors, but the evenings tended to be a bit quieter, after the visitors left. It's not quite as relaxing & peaceful as it was before, although it's still nice to be back.

On Thursday, all 25 of us set off for Jumbo Express. This is a program that Lek runs, where the volunteers visit a hilltribe village, and provide de-worming medicine for the kids as well as preforming various services for the community. This time we visited a village about 2 hours away from the park (it was probably only about 50km, but it was on dirt roads through the jungle, so the going was slow) We all piled into the back of 3 pickup trucks & set off....

Arrived at the village just after 2pm & started work on one of two toilets/outhouses that Lek had provided the materials for. Spent a couple hours hauling sand & pebbles up from the beach to make cement, finished digging the big hole that the villagers had started, poured the cement, set the toilet (a squatter) and started putting up the walls... Luckily it wasn't too hot a day!

After that, I helped Pom (our guide) make dinner in the "kitchen" (a rustic shack with a fire pit in one corner). Stirfried morning glories, stirfied pineapple, stirfried mushrooms & onions, and fried chicken. Yum! Pom's an amazing cook!

At 8:00, we got all the kids to line up & we gave them all the de-worming medicine, then they each received a toy. Hit the sack fairly early, but seeing as how the roosters started crowing at 5am, that was probably a good thing...

The next morning, we did a bit more work on the toilet, the Malcom (a volunteer from India) led a bunch of us in an hour of yoga (he's an instructor back home). Set off around 11am on bamboo rafts for an hour trip to an elephant treking camp. The rafting was fun. I got to steer - didn't hit too many rocks. ;) The camp was interesting. This is the third one I've visited & it's always an emotional trip. There are always a bunch of westerners milling about, eager for their turn to hop on the elephant's back (or at least, on the bench that's on the elephant's back). Most of these people are completely clueless to what these animals really go through, but for someone who's spent more time with happy elephants, the sadness here is almost palpable. Many of the elephants are incredibly skinny & they all look exhausted. Their day involved treking with 2 westerners sitting on the bench on their back, plus the mahout on their neck. They walk for an hour to a hilltribe village, where the westerners get off, then the elephants have to walk back to the camp & pick up more tourists... Most days they do this 3 times, resulting in over 6 hours of walking every single day. Add that to the fact that they're not really given the chance to graze, and they're burning a higher number of calories - you end up with some very hungry elephants...

One of the elephants, a 20 year old female, had a baby with her (1 year, 2 months). The baby's only 2 months older than Tong Jhan (my favourite elephant at the park), but the differences between the two were remarkable. This poor little elephant is forced to follow her mother every day, while she carries trekers. Babies like to nap through out the day, but I'm guessing this one wasn't given much time to do that.

Another of the elephants had killed one westerner and a couple of mahouts, but she's still being used for treking. Of course, no one's told about her history before they climb on her. Watched a couple head off for their hour trek on her & wondered how they'd feel if they knew the elephant they were riding wasn't quite as sweet & happy as they seemed to think she was...

A sad start...

This past week started off on a sad note. Two of our leased elephants, Kanun (6 months) and his mother, were taken back by their owner. Initially they were supposed to leave Tuesday, but Monday morning, I was feeding the cats & I noticed a man leading the two of them down the drive. They didn't even tell anyone they were leaving. What makes it even more devestating is that Kanun has been sold to a circus. Elephants normally nurse until they're almost 2 years of age, but in this case, it appears Kanun will be weaned incredibly early. I can't imagine the pain & anguish his mother will feel. She'll return to treking & will likely never see her baby again.

I think it's made Lek think more about leasing elephants. She pays the elephant owners to look after their animals for them & give the elephants a rest. She had tried to negotiate a fair price for Kanun & his mom (JoBan), but the price the owner wanted was far above & beyond what she could afford. It's difficult - many of the elephant owners see all the farangs (foreigners) involved in her project & assume Lek has access to loads of money, so they demand absurd prices... What a slap in the face - Lek has been paying to lease JoBan & Kanun, so that they could have a rest, and in return the owner takes his now-healthy elephants & returns one to the brutal treking life, and sells a ridiculously young elephant to the circus.

Back again...

Well, the trip over was uneventful. About 10 hours shorter than last time (thanks to the fact that I've relocated to Calgary, and I had shorter connections). Realized when I got here that I didn't really miss Thai cities. I think my Lonely Planet guidebook just about sums it up when it suggests that tourists avoid crossing the street. Traffic is insane here - pedestrians have absolutely zero right of way; even crossing at crosswalks (which are a rarity), it's sort of like playing Russian Roulette as to whether the cars will stop or not...

I've only been gone 2 months, but in some ways, the park has changed a lot. There are 5 new elephants, bringing the total to 30. We have a new mother & baby (1 month old), a 20 year old elephant who stepped on a landmine in Burma & lost part of her foot, as well as a female 6 year old, and another older girl. It's busy!

Unfortunately, the week before I got back, 4 of Michelle & Karl's dogs died. They think they must have eaten a poisonned rat or something, because they were long, drawn-out deaths, but none of the other dogs were affected.

Anyhow, I'm about to head back up to the park. Just came into the city for the evening to do some work & buy a phone card. Will write more later! :)