Would Mae Yom approve (or are we naughty school kids?)
With the return of the Government elephants to teak forests of Lampang we find ourselves taking a long hard look at the Anantara Mahout Training course that they were the back bone of for so many years.
The girls (grand old ladies?) were all (apart from Lawan) bought up in a hard working, logging tradition - the type of eles that pride themselves on being into the office before their colleagues, the last home from work and pretending to enjoy cold showers - does anyone really enjoy cold showers? - like a certain sort of 19th century colonial Englishman.
But having taken on so many youthful elephants (and getting old myself) we thought we might make a few changes - we already have the warm showers for the winter months - can we give the eles an extra 1/2 hour forest time in the morning, is there any need to start at 0630? Why not start at 0700? The pre-dawn rise was based upon the logging days when the eles needed to get as much of the dragging and hard work done before the heat of the day, well we don't do hard work...
Change made.
Why do we only do a short dip in the hot afternoon - especially in the river at this time of year - why not do a long 15 minute soak and water fight? (and all the new girls know the water pistol trick). Well, the TECC liked a short dip, austere elephants denying themselves the pleasure of a good soak - but why?
No good reason, change made, longer baths in the afternoon - at least as long as the river is low enough.
Why don't we spend some time in the Foundation babies camp? Well the old ladies of the TECC were slightly disparaging about all the attention being given to these young, yet to prove themselves, babies. Even old mother Yom was not very baby friendly, but our new girls like the babies, their average age is twenty so some might even think them broody... (ahem, Boun Liang, time to stop musthing and step up to the plate!).
Change made, let's bathe the babies before we take the adults to the river.
So there you go, not sure Yom and Janpen would approve, all pure indulgence for the elephants, for us and hopefully for you guys. As we get to better know the talents of our new eles we might add a few things to the curriculum - there seem to be a bewildering number of new get off and on methods, some I recognise from the Nepal days, some are just odd...
The photo is supposed to be Nam Chok and Tong Suk (Pompui) on the new bathing/drinking area we built for them close to the baby camp and on their exercise route - not sure where the little bundle of Lynchee came from but when you're quick, close to the ground and one year old the concept of "someone else's turn" doesn't mean much!
PS. These changes may be changed back when we discover the grand old ladies knew a thing or two more than me!
The girls (grand old ladies?) were all (apart from Lawan) bought up in a hard working, logging tradition - the type of eles that pride themselves on being into the office before their colleagues, the last home from work and pretending to enjoy cold showers - does anyone really enjoy cold showers? - like a certain sort of 19th century colonial Englishman.
But having taken on so many youthful elephants (and getting old myself) we thought we might make a few changes - we already have the warm showers for the winter months - can we give the eles an extra 1/2 hour forest time in the morning, is there any need to start at 0630? Why not start at 0700? The pre-dawn rise was based upon the logging days when the eles needed to get as much of the dragging and hard work done before the heat of the day, well we don't do hard work...
Change made.
Why do we only do a short dip in the hot afternoon - especially in the river at this time of year - why not do a long 15 minute soak and water fight? (and all the new girls know the water pistol trick). Well, the TECC liked a short dip, austere elephants denying themselves the pleasure of a good soak - but why?
No good reason, change made, longer baths in the afternoon - at least as long as the river is low enough.
Why don't we spend some time in the Foundation babies camp? Well the old ladies of the TECC were slightly disparaging about all the attention being given to these young, yet to prove themselves, babies. Even old mother Yom was not very baby friendly, but our new girls like the babies, their average age is twenty so some might even think them broody... (ahem, Boun Liang, time to stop musthing and step up to the plate!).
Change made, let's bathe the babies before we take the adults to the river.
So there you go, not sure Yom and Janpen would approve, all pure indulgence for the elephants, for us and hopefully for you guys. As we get to better know the talents of our new eles we might add a few things to the curriculum - there seem to be a bewildering number of new get off and on methods, some I recognise from the Nepal days, some are just odd...
The photo is supposed to be Nam Chok and Tong Suk (Pompui) on the new bathing/drinking area we built for them close to the baby camp and on their exercise route - not sure where the little bundle of Lynchee came from but when you're quick, close to the ground and one year old the concept of "someone else's turn" doesn't mean much!
PS. These changes may be changed back when we discover the grand old ladies knew a thing or two more than me!
John,
No good will come of this mollycoddling. This is half the trouble with the the youth of today......extra lie-in in the mornings??? You'll be giving them hoodies next to wear in the cooler weather, ("Good plan" says Jayne) then they'll start hanging around the forest corners looking menacing and complaining that there's nothing to do. That will in turn attract politicians with answers to your non-exixtent problem.
Has anyone warned K.Teera and Chef that there may be changes in the human feeding times?
Philip 2-T (Dinosaur Ret'd)
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John,
are you sure it's the ele's who benefit for the extra 1/2 hour in the forest?
As for more methods of getting on & off the ele, I still think my favourite was what we called 'The Garfield' - think "over the ele's head from the front, in the style of the Garfield stick-on Car toy".
Looking forward to meeting you all again & your new additions on Sunday.
Cheers
Mike
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...Amp and Oi did seem pleased about the extra 1/2 hour too - I am still getting up early to make the most of the quiet office.
Whether that particular piece of stiff upper lippism lasts until even Sunday I'm not sure!
See you soon
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