Fly me to the Mool (Kam Mool's semi-retirement)
She was already quite old when I met her in a sweltering, mimosa infested swamp by the Mool river in Surin province, near a town that had taken us hours to find, pronounced 'Stuck' but written Satuk - something about her attitude attracted me, she stuck her head out of the forest, looked at us, sort of sneered and walked back in.
I've always hated the big thorned mimosa that grows around here after you've messed with the soil, so quite apart from an older ele with an attitude, one that can eat my least favourite plant (the Northern eles refuse to touch it), we had to have her - this was back in the days when we were buying eles, before we realised, through Tawan, that buying an old or disabled ele gives the owner a chance to find a new one and go back to the streets, re-invest and re-start the cycle.
Kam Mool's owner did come with us to the North but didn't settle into the cycle of being employed too well and went home in the spring 'to plant rice' never to return.
Kam Mool was lucky enough to have the ever jolly, ex-room boy, K. Win - a man who had been coming to the Anantara camp before his housekeeping work everyday for six months just to be with elephants as her second mahout and he was quickly promoted.
It may be said that he and Mool have a similar attitude to life, it is often said that they have a similar belly (though I've never caught Win eating thorny mimosa).
So it has been that Kam Mool and K. Win have plied their trade at the Four Seasons Tented Camp for three years, in her advancing age the easy work of mahout training as been ideal for her and her slow pace and calm demeanour made her an excellent partner for the more nervous guest.
However, she has been suffering from what Dr Cherry describes, or more to the point I poorly translate, as a naughty infection (โรคดื้อ) for the last few months and is obviously getting old. Perfect timing as our guest levels drop off, we have a chance to give her a rest and possibly semi-retire her - I am still investigating ways that she might come under the Foundation and join the Thai Elephant-Assisted Therapy programme in Lampang as a therapist but for now, if any of her old two legged friends would like to visit her in her retirement home, bring her a banana and wile away the hours chewing on thorny bushes (resist temptation to make out of date political joke here) then you know where you can find her.
Dr Cherry chooses to treat the naughty infection with antibiotics but without recourse to the patent Roberts' Yeng Chang method of elephant I.V....
K. Win prepares to inject the vitamin supplement into the normal saline solution - the vitamins were so effective that old 'Mool side-stepped him that afternoon and gave everyone sitting on their hotel-room balconies a couple of hours of entertainment by playing Benny Hill chase with all of us.
We were worried as last time she did that, three years ago, she ended up in Burma!
I've always hated the big thorned mimosa that grows around here after you've messed with the soil, so quite apart from an older ele with an attitude, one that can eat my least favourite plant (the Northern eles refuse to touch it), we had to have her - this was back in the days when we were buying eles, before we realised, through Tawan, that buying an old or disabled ele gives the owner a chance to find a new one and go back to the streets, re-invest and re-start the cycle.
Kam Mool's owner did come with us to the North but didn't settle into the cycle of being employed too well and went home in the spring 'to plant rice' never to return.
Kam Mool was lucky enough to have the ever jolly, ex-room boy, K. Win - a man who had been coming to the Anantara camp before his housekeeping work everyday for six months just to be with elephants as her second mahout and he was quickly promoted.
It may be said that he and Mool have a similar attitude to life, it is often said that they have a similar belly (though I've never caught Win eating thorny mimosa).
So it has been that Kam Mool and K. Win have plied their trade at the Four Seasons Tented Camp for three years, in her advancing age the easy work of mahout training as been ideal for her and her slow pace and calm demeanour made her an excellent partner for the more nervous guest.
However, she has been suffering from what Dr Cherry describes, or more to the point I poorly translate, as a naughty infection (โรคดื้อ) for the last few months and is obviously getting old. Perfect timing as our guest levels drop off, we have a chance to give her a rest and possibly semi-retire her - I am still investigating ways that she might come under the Foundation and join the Thai Elephant-Assisted Therapy programme in Lampang as a therapist but for now, if any of her old two legged friends would like to visit her in her retirement home, bring her a banana and wile away the hours chewing on thorny bushes (resist temptation to make out of date political joke here) then you know where you can find her.
Dr Cherry chooses to treat the naughty infection with antibiotics but without recourse to the patent Roberts' Yeng Chang method of elephant I.V....
K. Win prepares to inject the vitamin supplement into the normal saline solution - the vitamins were so effective that old 'Mool side-stepped him that afternoon and gave everyone sitting on their hotel-room balconies a couple of hours of entertainment by playing Benny Hill chase with all of us.
We were worried as last time she did that, three years ago, she ended up in Burma!
John, I am pleased to hear Kam Mool is being so well looked after - being with her for my mahout training was one of the best experiences ever! She was so patient and tolerant. How is her health now?
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Dear Mrs B
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