Two very tired little elephants!
A couple of nights ago two of our kids decided that life in camp had got a little dull and that it was time for an adventure - the adults are down in the deep grassland every night now and had, the evening before, treated us to a fifteen minute symphony of roars, rumbles, peeps and squeals. I'm not sure what the gossip was all about but there wasn't a guest in house who didn't know there were elephants on site - unfortunately I think it gave Nong Pleum an idea.
The babies still live on top of the hill on the grounds that it is safer for them, but all that talk of lush grass and other adult subject matter must have whetted her appetite - at eight and the oldest of the youngest she's beginning to feel grown up.
At about 3am (and we know the time from what happened later on) she somehow managed to slip her long chain from her foot and together with Plai Tawan (who isn't chained on the grounds that he never leaves his big sister's side) set off to see the big wide world.
Well brought up eles that they are, they didn't tear off through the forest on a direct route to the adults they walked all the way around the ridge, down the hill and tip-toed through the elephant camp.
At about three-thirty they decided to have make a snack of some bushes near the car park whereupon they were spotted by security who promptly locked themselves in their booth and made a note in the log book - "3:27. Medium sized elephant recorded destroying property, last seen heading in a Southerly direction" - or something like that and left it there...
...and so the adventure continued recorded but unabated. The little eles jogged past the staff quarters, adrenaline pumping after their brush with the law, all the way around the track, down the elephant steps and into the grassland to meet the adults. So far so good and what a great little adventure!
Unfortunately something (and I suspect Lawan!) persuaded the little eles that they needed a bath, not only that bath in the river like the adults. However, at this time of the year the river comes 3/4's of the way up Janpen, way over the head of even Nong Pleum and with a current that only four elephantine feet planted firmly on the river bed can withstand.
Nevertheless, without a care in the world it seems, without checking depth with their trunks - and bearing in mind that though elephants can be strong swimmers neither of these elephants has ever encountered water above their flanks before and certainly not flowing - they threw themselves in. Inbuilt snorkels notwithstanding this was where the panic must have begun as now they were in they suddenly saw the steps we've cut into the steep bank disappearing into the night as the kids headed rapidly downstream.
In the morning we found the tracks where they tried to regain the Thai bank, an area where they rested on a Burmese sand bank - Nong Pleum went into the Burmese grass for a while but thankfully Tawan just wanted to go home at this stage and stood his ground (that was always my role on dangerous runaway adventures as a kid - stand outside the forbidden gate worrying about who will catch us).
In the morning it took us two hours to piece all of this together, even with the head start offered by the Security log book, two hours before K. Lord found two very sheepish little elephants up to Nong Pleum's belly in a swamp one kilometer downstream. Like prodigal children who run away from home only getting as far as the garden gate before they realise that, boring as they are, grown ups serve a purpose I hope these two ele kids have had enough adventure for one year - my heart can't take another!
They recovered from their ordeal in camp, high energy foods and loads of rest, Tawan was so tired he could barely move his trunk to greet (eating wasn't a problem), deep mud is difficult for any young elephant but with his one bad leg - that doesn't slow him down on firm ground - he was at a double disadvantage.
The same day by coincidence Shirley and Derek had sent me the following cartoon - made me think that perhaps small eles that want to stay in bed a little longer should be encouraged!
The babies still live on top of the hill on the grounds that it is safer for them, but all that talk of lush grass and other adult subject matter must have whetted her appetite - at eight and the oldest of the youngest she's beginning to feel grown up.
At about 3am (and we know the time from what happened later on) she somehow managed to slip her long chain from her foot and together with Plai Tawan (who isn't chained on the grounds that he never leaves his big sister's side) set off to see the big wide world.
Well brought up eles that they are, they didn't tear off through the forest on a direct route to the adults they walked all the way around the ridge, down the hill and tip-toed through the elephant camp.
At about three-thirty they decided to have make a snack of some bushes near the car park whereupon they were spotted by security who promptly locked themselves in their booth and made a note in the log book - "3:27. Medium sized elephant recorded destroying property, last seen heading in a Southerly direction" - or something like that and left it there...
...and so the adventure continued recorded but unabated. The little eles jogged past the staff quarters, adrenaline pumping after their brush with the law, all the way around the track, down the elephant steps and into the grassland to meet the adults. So far so good and what a great little adventure!
Unfortunately something (and I suspect Lawan!) persuaded the little eles that they needed a bath, not only that bath in the river like the adults. However, at this time of the year the river comes 3/4's of the way up Janpen, way over the head of even Nong Pleum and with a current that only four elephantine feet planted firmly on the river bed can withstand.
Nevertheless, without a care in the world it seems, without checking depth with their trunks - and bearing in mind that though elephants can be strong swimmers neither of these elephants has ever encountered water above their flanks before and certainly not flowing - they threw themselves in. Inbuilt snorkels notwithstanding this was where the panic must have begun as now they were in they suddenly saw the steps we've cut into the steep bank disappearing into the night as the kids headed rapidly downstream.
In the morning we found the tracks where they tried to regain the Thai bank, an area where they rested on a Burmese sand bank - Nong Pleum went into the Burmese grass for a while but thankfully Tawan just wanted to go home at this stage and stood his ground (that was always my role on dangerous runaway adventures as a kid - stand outside the forbidden gate worrying about who will catch us).
In the morning it took us two hours to piece all of this together, even with the head start offered by the Security log book, two hours before K. Lord found two very sheepish little elephants up to Nong Pleum's belly in a swamp one kilometer downstream. Like prodigal children who run away from home only getting as far as the garden gate before they realise that, boring as they are, grown ups serve a purpose I hope these two ele kids have had enough adventure for one year - my heart can't take another!
They recovered from their ordeal in camp, high energy foods and loads of rest, Tawan was so tired he could barely move his trunk to greet (eating wasn't a problem), deep mud is difficult for any young elephant but with his one bad leg - that doesn't slow him down on firm ground - he was at a double disadvantage.
The same day by coincidence Shirley and Derek had sent me the following cartoon - made me think that perhaps small eles that want to stay in bed a little longer should be encouraged!
I'm so happy to hear that the kids are okay! I am especially fond of Tawan and Pleum, and it would break my heart if anything bad happened to them. I'm all for them having some little adventures from time to time, though!
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