On both sides of the tracks (love, tradition and abuse in Surin)
Sitting here in my cold office, looking out as the sun rises into the elephant camp, picking out first the roof tops of the mahout houses, the solar water heaters, the silk weaving hut and then belatedly, it seems, this December morning, a huddled group of mahouts, wives and children hidden deep in winter coats with steam raising from their breath, enduring the smoke from the fire and shivering in the 8 degree cool.
Surely, you might say, these are the hardy Northern mahouts, the Galieng guys from the mountains of Chiang Mai, the Thai Leu from the hills of Hong Sa but you'd be wrong (for the most part), dealing with ex-street elephants as we do we select our elephants from the North Eastern (way, way, way South East of here) community based around the town of Surin, the place where most of the itinerant eles and therefore mahouts hail from - the Englishman, by the way, is sitting in an office the sun never touches in his suit jacket.
Now, Surin is home to these folks and they miss it dearly but I have to admit that I have never been a fan, it is a hard land where, though you never seem to be cold, either drought or flood seem to be a constant companion, it is a great flat plain which must, once, have been prime elephant territory; a tall grass swamp, seasonally inundated, it is not difficult to imagine how it became home to the elephant catching tribes just as it is not difficult to see how, now the swamp is rice paddy, those that have kept and caught wild elephants from time immemorial find it all but impossible to make a living there.
Personally though, I suffer from whatever the antonym of claustrophobia is and tend to panic if I can't see a hill and, once the car drops out of the mountains of Nam Nao National Park onto the Isaan plateau, it seems one can drive for hours at speeds frowned upon by the sweltering, officious police of the flatlands without coming across even a hillock - nowadays air-conditioning can keep out the heat, a hat can beat off the rain, the feeling of being alone in an open land...
Still it is home to friends and is home to one of the most spectacular sights in the elephant world, once a year the itinerant eles return to celebrate their heritage at the Surin Elephant Round-Up, making it the only place in Thailand that it is possible not only to see most of the street eles and their people in one place and, as you'll see from the videos, possibly the only place in the world to see up to 300 eles in one place.
It was obvious to me, as it always is with these elephant folks, that the majority of elephants are loved and looked after to the best of the ability of the family they are considered part of, I thought twice about putting 'abuse' in the title as it gets hurled at the Surin keepers too much - often, in my opinion, doing your best to make a living for your elephant by taking it onto the streets is misrepresented as abuse, doing gimmicky tricks to turn an extra stick of sugarcane is not natural behaviour but, as I have repeatedly said, we shouldn't be too quick to condemn - we always say that we are worried more for the baby elephants, split far too early, and looked after by non-mahouts, taken onto the streets by people who don't hold the elephant owning tradition and see it just as a way of making cash...
...'mahouts' who can't tell you the name of the 'mother that died giving birth', or, when found in Bangkok can't tell which village in Surin they grew up in...
...who tell you that the scars on the head of their one year old are part of necessary training and there's no other way.
There, got the preaching bit out of the way, the 'abuse' bit over now I can get on with enjoying the real mahouts and the love for and interdependence on their elephants as part of the family, get on with admitting I love the round-up the elephants and the people...
...where there is free drugs there'll be mahouts, this is the Surin mobile veterinary clinic handing out mahout veterinary kits at the beginning of the parade on buffet day...
...three tuskers lead the 'rank and file' part of the parade to the buffet, to give you a picture of how many eles make up the rank and file, watch 60 seconds of video and bare in mind I caught up here halfway through...
Surely, you might say, these are the hardy Northern mahouts, the Galieng guys from the mountains of Chiang Mai, the Thai Leu from the hills of Hong Sa but you'd be wrong (for the most part), dealing with ex-street elephants as we do we select our elephants from the North Eastern (way, way, way South East of here) community based around the town of Surin, the place where most of the itinerant eles and therefore mahouts hail from - the Englishman, by the way, is sitting in an office the sun never touches in his suit jacket.
Now, Surin is home to these folks and they miss it dearly but I have to admit that I have never been a fan, it is a hard land where, though you never seem to be cold, either drought or flood seem to be a constant companion, it is a great flat plain which must, once, have been prime elephant territory; a tall grass swamp, seasonally inundated, it is not difficult to imagine how it became home to the elephant catching tribes just as it is not difficult to see how, now the swamp is rice paddy, those that have kept and caught wild elephants from time immemorial find it all but impossible to make a living there.
Personally though, I suffer from whatever the antonym of claustrophobia is and tend to panic if I can't see a hill and, once the car drops out of the mountains of Nam Nao National Park onto the Isaan plateau, it seems one can drive for hours at speeds frowned upon by the sweltering, officious police of the flatlands without coming across even a hillock - nowadays air-conditioning can keep out the heat, a hat can beat off the rain, the feeling of being alone in an open land...
Still it is home to friends and is home to one of the most spectacular sights in the elephant world, once a year the itinerant eles return to celebrate their heritage at the Surin Elephant Round-Up, making it the only place in Thailand that it is possible not only to see most of the street eles and their people in one place and, as you'll see from the videos, possibly the only place in the world to see up to 300 eles in one place.
It was obvious to me, as it always is with these elephant folks, that the majority of elephants are loved and looked after to the best of the ability of the family they are considered part of, I thought twice about putting 'abuse' in the title as it gets hurled at the Surin keepers too much - often, in my opinion, doing your best to make a living for your elephant by taking it onto the streets is misrepresented as abuse, doing gimmicky tricks to turn an extra stick of sugarcane is not natural behaviour but, as I have repeatedly said, we shouldn't be too quick to condemn - we always say that we are worried more for the baby elephants, split far too early, and looked after by non-mahouts, taken onto the streets by people who don't hold the elephant owning tradition and see it just as a way of making cash...
...'mahouts' who can't tell you the name of the 'mother that died giving birth', or, when found in Bangkok can't tell which village in Surin they grew up in...
...who tell you that the scars on the head of their one year old are part of necessary training and there's no other way.
There, got the preaching bit out of the way, the 'abuse' bit over now I can get on with enjoying the real mahouts and the love for and interdependence on their elephants as part of the family, get on with admitting I love the round-up the elephants and the people...
...where there is free drugs there'll be mahouts, this is the Surin mobile veterinary clinic handing out mahout veterinary kits at the beginning of the parade on buffet day...
...three tuskers lead the 'rank and file' part of the parade to the buffet, to give you a picture of how many eles make up the rank and file, watch 60 seconds of video and bare in mind I caught up here halfway through...
Ok when I regain consciousness, start breathing again and recover from the sheer adrenalin rush of thinking about tending to that many eles...If I got to even just witness the roundup, I think I could die happy! My love to you all. Keep warm!
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Hi John - I was just looking at the hotel web site to see if you still do the Mahout package and found some of your 'tails' inc Surin. You may remember that I e mailed you some time ago because I was thinking about booking anther trip to Thailand including a visit the Surin festival. Well I did it and had a great time. Like you I was also concerned by some of the things I saw but just wanted to enjoy the spirit of it all and the eles and what an experience it was. I then went south to Pattaya ands spent a week as a trainee mahout at the ele camp there. It was great and although I am no expert it seemed well run and eles well cared for. By us spending a week hanging out with our Mahout and feeding, feeding , showering and riding our ele (mine was called Boonme) we were helping to bring money into the camp. Unfortunately the problems at the airport not only delayed our going home plans but the other tourists just dried up – so not good for any one. Then on the way home I started chatting to 2 ladies in the check in queue - they were from the 'elephant family' and they knew you – what a coincidence or was it meant to be? Anyway just a quick catch up and I need to start thing about my next trip to Thailand to see the eles and hope to get to Anantara again. Do you do any other sort of package say for someone like me who may want to spend a week or so there and get involved with the eles a bit more and be more than just a tourist on a Mahout course? It is just that I have some leave coming up in Feb/March and would love to do something different. Just a thought …….Bye for now Lynne
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Hi Lynne
Glad you made it to Surin and you enjoyed the camp down in Pattaya - and that it is also as good as its reputation.
Funnily enough we were in Pattaya too just after the Round Up for the International Elephant Forum (I'm sure Edwina and Ruth told you) but completely forgot to visit the camp.
I hope you told them all about it!
Since you've been here before then I would go ahead and book the mahout course and drop me a line and we'll get you more involved.
Thanks
John
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