Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation

Clean clothes for the Autistic Ele Kids.

John Roberts — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:01:46 GMT

    The GPS chip in my poor old phone is worn out, the Bluetooth chip has provided patchy e-mails from jungle corners and bare hotel rooms, in these days of easy communication there's no excuse for having been out of touch and said blue teeth have even provided the Youtube site with a couple of videos...

    ...and yet silence on these pages, bet you've been wondering what I'm up to? Well, for some reason the full moon in late November causes elephant folks to pack their trunks and travel (the full moon always drives us a little crazy) as we go out and test the water, meeting other ele folks and eles along the way.

    First stop on our trip was perhaps the most important, we had to drop off a present to one of my favourite projects, Chiang Mai University and K. Prasop's programme to use elephants as therapists for Austistic kids - the programme has reached a level whereby they are ready to go regularly residential at the Elephant and Mahout Training College in Lampang.

    Well the mahout school is fired up to receive trainee proffessional mahouts, the odd Western guest and tribes of foreign students but hardly too many kids and their well-to-do parents - the mahouts' wives have been doing the laundry there for years in the most traditional manner possible and, to save their hands from turning prune-like and arthritic, we felt they could do with an heavy duty washing machine.

    So we dug into the funds raised at last year's King's Cup Elephant Polo and bought them a shiny new machine - if no-one else is, we hope the mahouts will be grateful for their newly silky handed wives!

...sorry the picture isn't more exciting, I hope to provide before and after photos of the horny handed but for now you'll have to make do with K. Prasop in his jogging kit and K. Tu - Chief Elephant Coordinator at the School - in her pre-work clothes and what, I assure you, is a full box of washing machine.

    It was a chilly morning and we had promises to keep, some 1,500 km to go before I (the driver at least) slept.

Posh V.O.S.H: Seeing-eye elephants not required (this time)

John Roberts — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:17:40 GMT

    Anantara Golden Triangle recently played host to the Thailand leg of Volunteer Optometric Services for Humanity, an organisation that, through the good services of volunteer opticians, provides free eye clinics and donated glasses to the world's poor.

    Before the eye clinic the good Dr's came to ride the elephants, took part in the cooking school and toured the area.

    Normally, it is said, these adventurous eye doctors have to climb mountains, 4wd through sweating jungles, perhaps even use elephants as essential transportation rather than as a fun side trip. Through various connections, however, the Thailand trip is 5* and Mercedes Limousine throughout - hence the moniker Posh Vosh - and let's face it they deserve the rest.

    When it came to the clinic they managed to correct the eyesight of about 700 people over three days with the help of volunteers from amongst the Anantara staff - including our very own K. Amp and Dr. Cherry.

...Amp does her translation bit at the 'initial eye test'...

...K. Anne from the Front Office at the consultancy stage...

...and thanks to the girls' generously donated time, some of our weaving wives got new glasses and all the mahouts got protective sun shades.

A zoo-keeper's dilemma (and an ele with an unfortunate name in today's climate)

John Roberts — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:56:04 GMT

    Back in the old days when Zoo's were places where the public came to gawp at exotic creatures for the financial benefit of the owners or the city people didn't think too much about the mental welfare or even mental capacity of their charges - after all, these were the tail end of the days when only the mega rich could afford to go on safari and see these things in the wild.

    Nowadays with 24hr Animal Planet beamed in from space and budget airlines the public, in general, have a much better chance of knowing and caring about the wild existence of the exotic creature's cousins, Zoo's have had to up their game and provide educational experiences that can't be found on TV (whilst phasing out what would seem to be their obvious advantage over the cathode ray (smells aside): interaction with the animals themselves - Health and Safety regulations have largely put paid to your chances of meeting domestic Zoo creatures, especially elephants) whilst justifying their presence in the scientific community by taking on a conservation role to protect species which, they argue, are inadequately protected in the wild.

    For the most part they have done this well, but adapting to the times cannot solve all their problems and, on the occasion of the birthday of one of their celebrated elephants, Auckland Zoo have bravely decided to address the issue one would guess they would have preferred to dodge, at least in public.

    What to do when one of the two remaining Asian eles in New Zealand dies, as will inevitably happen to us all even with the best care and best diet? I guess the reason for going public now is to do it when the tide of public goodwill is focused on the ele's birthday and to show the critics that there is a planning process and that the remaining elephant's mental and physical welfare are part of that process.

    Not being a Kiwi, not being a Zoo keeper (well, perhaps a glorified amateur one) I would say the obvious solution would be to pack poor lonely Burma, the expected survivor, off to the Zoo's in Australia that have just received their Thai eles or even, if they wanted huge PR, back to one of the sanctuaries back here (they don't say how old Burma is, but if young enough perhaps to one of the dehabilitation and release projects).

    But, I can see that the keepers and the city have become attached to their ele and I can see that they will know that they can look after Burma well and will have the capacity to take on more eles, they'll be reluctant to give her up - they state that 'modern captive animal practice dictates' that Burma must have an ele companion, I would say that ele behaviour dictates, though living with mahouts who have taken babies onto the streets without ele company I know all too well how easy it is to fall into the trap of feeling that "my company is all she needs", especially with an adult ele who, well, already knows how to be an ele...

    ...and despite all that is written above; I feel there is a truth that dare not speak its name, that, to a large extent, Zoo's are still places where the general public come to gawp at exotic creatures for the financial benefit of the owners or the city and, in the words of the journalist, a Zoo without an elephant isn't much of a Zoo.

    As I have said before, given the numbers of elephants in trouble and out of work in the range states, given that we have a Governing body in CITES who could control and set minimum standards of care and of procurement, given that the animal rights groups and patriots are watching - I really don't see why that truth shouldn't be admitted. I don't feel that options of export should be dismissed out of hand, though I'd have thought AZAA would be reluctant to go through the process again given the trouble and controversy they fielded last time...

     ...and I do feel sorry for Auckland Zoo's administrators and keepers that their birthday girl's name is such a gift for any headline writer seeking a commercial conspiracy.
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Kashin the elephant turns 40

Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 02 November 2008

KASHIN THE elephant's snot is clear and gritty. "Blow into her trunk," instructs the zookeeper. "She wants to smell your breath."

Looking up an elephant's nose is like peering into twin surgical wounds. Pink and glistening tunnels, 1.6m long, containing more than 40,000 muscles, useful for pushing over logs, snuffling in the dirt and getting to know human visitors.

There are only three elephants in New Zealand. African-born Jumbo is currently in Nelson with the Loritz Circus. Kashin and her companion Burma, the Asian elephants living at Auckland Zoo, are the sole representatives of their species.

Kashin celebrates her 40th birthday next Sunday. Middle-aged by elephant standards, she suffers from arthritis, foot abscesses and skin ulcers. Keepers say her ability to recover from infections is diminishing. It is unlikely she will live to 50 and that leaves Auckland Zoo with a dilemma.

Modern captive animal practice dictates Burma must have companions; that once Kashin is gone, either multiple elephants must be imported to Auckland, or Burma must go to a new home, in a new country.

Is this the end of an era for elephants in New Zealand zoos?

Jonathan Wilcken, Auckland Zoo director, says it's too early to say. "But our default position would have to be we've got to give Burma what she needs in terms of companionship."

The zoo board has considered the issue in secret, at a public-excluded session of its August meeting, under the heading "Strategic implications of retaining elephants at Auckland Zoo".

In response to an Official Information Act request from the Sunday Star-Times, Wilcken said Kashin's health problems highlighted the need to plan carefully.

However, "the issue of future planning for such a species has clear commercial ramifications, and for this reason we are withholding details of the planning process".

He was no more forthcoming this week.

"We need to develop contingency plans. Clearly we're not going to be implementing contingency plans in advance of the contingency arising."

Kashin weighs in at more than three tonnes. She stands 3.2m high and eats up to 120kg of food a day (and poos out about 60kg of that). On her daily walk through the zoo grounds, she is a lumbering, rusty truck who doesn't like hills, but looks like she's smiling when she gets into the bush and starts browsing vegetation.

"Kashin is currently doing very well," Wilcken says. "There is no indication that any change to the current circumstances is imminent."

AUCKLAND ZOO is a member of the Australasian Zoo and Aquarium Association, which has developed a 50-year management plan for Asian elephants. The organisation says the animals are a key species because they are endangered (only 35,000 live in the wild, compared to 500,000 of their African counterparts) and face a very high risk of extinction (wild populations have declined by 80% in the past 60 years).

"Elephants are a much-loved species," says the association. "They are powerful ambassadors that assist in educating and engaging people in biodiversity and conservation."

And the kids love 'em. Last Labour Weekend Saturday, Auckland Zoo's elephant encounter packed out. Families broke out apples, bananas and umbrellas and settled in for lunch in front of Kashin. The birthday girl trumpeted and the crowd went "oooh" when she took a dip in her pool.

Heath Mitchell, eight, said his main impression of Kashin was "fat". Elephants, reported his youthful companions, had long noses, could push logs and were grey. Or brown. Or kind of black. No matter it was clear that for some visitors, a zoo without an elephant would not be much of a zoo.

Wilcken won't reveal Kashin's financial worth to his organisation. He won't even rank the cost of keeping elephants alongside other species. But across the Tasman, when Melbourne and Sydney's Taronga zoos expanded and upgraded to bring in new elephants from Thailand, they spent $13.5 million and $40 million, respectively. The move caused an uproar animal welfare groups called the plans "a commercial deal dressed up as an animal conservation effort" but the imports went ahead, and both zoos are now expecting baby elephants.

Auckland Zoo was part of that original importation plan, but had to turn down a young female after it became violent in quarantine. It couldn't take a bull, because it had no facilities to house it separately.

"In order to keep elephants as well as we do, it costs a reasonable amount of money," Wilcken says. "I think it's fair to say that zoos of the past perhaps didn't understand their needs as well as we do now... and the extent to which a zoo has to resource them... the elephant population we've got here is a remnant of past planning."

INTERNATIONALLY, ANIMAL rights groups are documenting moves to close elephant exhibits. New York's Bronx Zoo has announced that when two of its three specimens die, the remaining one will be sent to another zoo. California's Santa Barbara has a similar non-replacement policy. In 2001, London Zoo permanently relocated its three female Asian elephants and closed a 170-year-old exhibit. Wellington Zoo which received its first elephant in 1927 has not had one since 1983, when the much-loved Kamala died. Zoo literature says elephants should be ideally kept in herds of four or five as they are very social animals, and "Wellington Zoo does not have the space or resources to house elephants".

In the absence of other elephants, keepers play a crucial role. At Auckland Zoo, it's a minimum three-year commitment. "It's about that long before you really start to notice they like you, that they care about you," says Andrew Coers, elephant team leader.

Coers, 28, describes Kashin as "a bit of a queen mother". At the elephant encounter, he calls her "Kashi-bear" and uses a mix of Sri Lankan and made-up words to encourage her to nudge logs, spray herself with water and trumpet to Burma. But away from the public, at the top of the hill and into the bush at zoo's perimeter, it's more hands-off. The elephants munch grass and flick dust over their backs. They look happy.

"All the work we do down in the paddock, the training and spending time with these animals, is so we can take them out in the bush, and let them be elephants and have some time to themselves," says Coers.

"People don't tend to get to see a lot of this stuff, but the fact that it's happening is awesome... they need access to areas where they can do elephanty things."

Talk to an Aucklander about Kashin and invariably someone will remember riding her as a child. In fact, that was another elephant, Jamuna. Kashin is, however, the elephant on the ASB Bank money box scheme launched in 1964.

It was the bank that sponsored Kashin's arrival, in 1973, from a Thailand wildlife facility to the Old Elephant House (now a function centre).

It's a long way from that concrete enclosure to the pools, dust baths and bush walks Kashin enjoys today.

Coers says Auckland Zoo should not keep elephants for the sake of it. "My preference would be to see more, but it would have to be done properly, and there would have to be a successful breeding programme to be able to keep elephants here for a lot longer."

Kashin is too old to have children. Burma, 26, has scar tissue that makes artificial insemination difficult. `

`It would be very, very special for New Zealand to have baby elephants," says Coers.

"But nowadays it's getting harder and harder to bring any animal into the country."

It's pouring rain in the bush now. Kashin doesn't care. She lumbers further into the undergrowth. Next Sunday, weather permitting, she'll get a bath in the hippo pool that's being especially cleaned for her birthday and she'll eat a giant cake made of fruit and bran mash.

"Generally, elephants live to 50 to 70 years," says Coers. "But really, Kashin won't fall into that bracket because of her health issues. It's hard to put an actual two years or three years on it, but it could be any time.

"Kashin has touched so many people. One day, when we have to make decisions, it's going to be a pretty sad time for a lot of people. Not just those of us who look after her, but the whole community out there who support her."

Breakfast in the sky (no diamonds?)

John Roberts — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:23:31 GMT

As you know, we are well known for our tendency to accept any invitation proffered, especially if we feel there may be a free banana in it for us; so when the gilt edged envelope arrived recently to attend a breakfast on our very own Sunset Sala turned up on the camp's proverbial door mat (there is some speculation that I might be the camp's figurative door mat and it is well known that we don't have a literal door mat) you will not be surprised to learn we felt that we should make an effort, get dressed up early and get up there.

With the panoramic views of all three countries, with the rustle of bamboo in the breeze, with the slightly more urgent noise of bamboo between massive molars, with the storms rumbling below us - safe 'neath our macaranga leaf, perhaps I was in a romantic mood but it got me thinking, what better place to pop the question? - of course you wouldn't invite thirty of your best friends as our hosts had (would you? - this coming from a guy who proposed in the check-in queue at Charles de Gaulle) - then we could have breakfast in the sky with diamonds.

...the guys await the arrival of the first phase of the Toyota's best sales folks worldwide...

...s'not raining, honest, safe to sit down to your fried eggs, waffles and espresso...

...of course, if you were going to pop the question you might not require a staff of thousands, but perhaps an anniversary breakfast with your best friends?..

...this being a Four Seasons event, of course breakfast was laid on for the eles too - like I said, wherever there's a free banana or two, that's where we'll be.

On top of the world - mahouts and champagne.

John Roberts — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:06:50 GMT

It is well known in elephant circles that underneath the bluff exterior mahouts are a refined bunch, hanging around with global hotel chains such as Four Seasons and Anantara they develop the tastes of their guests - just recently Four Seasons Tented Camp, together with their elephants, was voted the Number One Resort in the World by the readers of Conde Naste Traveller in the United States and instead going wildly into the night, swigging home made whisky and singing the old songs our boys were caught toasting with champagne.

What is the world coming to?

...congratulations to Dech, Daet, Berm, Nat, Kran, Win, Krit, Bat, Rat, Egg, To, & Ne (& Seang before we made him come and work at Anantara) - as well as Puang Phet, Kam Mool, Yuki, Boun Liang, Boun Ma & Tongkam - you all deserve it.

..it is worth noting that Anantara Golden Triangle came in in the top 25 in Asia making our elephant programmes surely Conde Naste's favourite worldwide.

PS. I'm sure they went wildly into the night swigging the homemade stuff as soon as the Champagne bottle was empty - do not fear!

The Pied Piper of Chiang Khong (Phu Ki leads the parade)

John Roberts — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:10:46 GMT

The word is out there on the dirt road, they're whispering in their Government meetings, if it is time for the temple parade and the village elders once again are rambling on about the good old days before the trees went, when there were elephants behind every bush and a parade wasn't a parade unless it was led by a bona fide be-tusked giant.

The word is out, if it is traditional, we have not much else to do and if you want to keep your Grandfathers happy, come and see Amp up at the big hotel - officially my terms are that it doesn't cost me anything but sleep, the elephant gets a tip of sugarcane and the mahouts get a tip of a more adaptable kind.

Of course, it always ends up costing me more than sleep as the truck driver has forgotten to fill up with fuel, the mahouts need lunch, a new uniform to look good, a new hat to look traditional and temples always need a donation (of a more adaptable kind) but it is always worth it to try and put elephants back in the forefront of local folks' minds.

The middle of October sees the end of Buddhist Lent, the three month period where the monks are supposed not to venture forth from their temples lest they tread on and kill the growing shoots bought abundantly about by the rains, the three months where the devout give up alcohol (as with Christian Lent in most cases for between seven to ten days - but at least they try), by the time the third full moon rolls around the monks are traditionally invited back out of their temples in a Krathin Ceremony, wherein they are prepared for the year ahead and all in the land - from HM the King on down - present them with new robes and other essentials.

It is also a good excuse for a parade and, as Grandfather incessantly tells you, a parade ain't a parade without an ele...

..Phu Ki is on the truck and off past the mulberry garden...

...and meets his adoring crowd - photo credit to K. Seng who is our chief roving mahout nowadays...

...and, with Ja at the controls, does his Pied Piper impression - of course leading them to the temple and out of harm's way.

Why we do what we do (those of a sensitive disposition look away now)

John Roberts — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:12:17 GMT

    There are times when I may wonder at what we do here, not really doubt the effectiveness and purpose of bringing the elephants off the streets but wonder, when visiting the camps of families - not, perhaps, those camped under the roads in Bangkok but those in the outer towns.

    Elephants in waist high grass, their family camped around them, sugarcane bought in from the provinces, might there not be a place for this too; in a world where the elephant depends on tourism and the tourists are slowing down, isn't this an ancient essentially transient lifestyle adapted to the modern world?

    Certainly, during the wet season the adults that roam from town to town here in the North, camping in temples and farmers' donated old paddy, sticking to the back roads would seem to have a reasonable life, I met a very fat young - though alone in ele terms - ele on the beach in Krabi, very healthy and calm.

    In our rush to bring all elephants off the streets and with our well known shortage of land, sometimes I wonder if we can't allow viable alternatives and then a story like the one below comes along to remind me...

    ...the reality of modern Thailand is no place for an ele, of course we're all at risk of being hit by a car every time we cross the street (especially in Bangkok) but at least we know and understand the risks - whether we believe the poor owner's (don't forget he's just lost a son and an elephant, his family's future and their only asset - hard not to have sympathy) claim that he's only been down there for a couple of days - whether or not the driver was drunk (as many are at night), whether or not we have sympathy for the economic realities of an elephant lifestyle there is no doubt in my mind that Plai Bounmee should not have been on that street at night.

    As K. Soriada points out, elephants should be where they belong, the question she doesn't answer is where they belong - I know a few places, as it happens, where elephants and mahouts can live, give me more land and I'll show you some more.
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ACCIDENT

A seven-year-old male elephant and a 16-year-old boy were killed and two people injured when hit by a pick-up truck while crossing a road in Bangkok in the early hours of yesterday. The elephant, Phlai Boonmee, and the youth, identified only as Chit, died on the spot. Sitthichai Yiawaram, 12, suffered injuries to his head and Kongsit Thalerngsuk, 24, scrapes and bruising.

Phlai Boonmee, a seven-year-old bull elephant, died after being hit by a pick-up truck on Srinakarin road in the early hours of yesterday. The elephant was brought to Bangkok by its owner to beg for food and money.

The vehicle's driver, Surachai Sunthornpadakul, 40, had a cut under his eye. The injured people were taken to Vibhavadi Ram hospital.
The elephant's owner, Boonchan Yiawaram, 36, said he, his son Sitthichai and their neighbours came from Buri Ram two days ago to beg for food and money in Bangkok.
After roaming the streets near Lam Salee intersection in Bang Kapi district on Wednesday evening, they had returned to the place in Srinakarin road where they were staying, and were hit by the speeding vehicle as they crossed the road, Mr Boonchan said.
Suebsakul Khemthong said the driver was charged with reckless driving causing death and injury.
Eyewitnesses said the driver appeared to be drunk, Pol Lt-Col Suebsakul said.
Soraida Salwala, founder of the Friends of the Asian Elephant foundation, said the problems of elephants roaming the streets had gone on for too long.
The authorities paid only lip service to improving the welfare of the roaming elephants and the mahouts.
''This accident could have been prevented. Elephants should not roam about in cities. They should stay where they belong,'' Ms Soraida said.
She would ask Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin to make sure Bangkok is free of roaming elephants.
She was also seeking legal avenues for action against people involved in abusing elephants and against high-ranking officials who turn a blind eye to the problem

Elephants in the popular imagination: Feted and confounded in equal, undeserved, measure...

John Roberts — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:10:21 GMT

...not usually being one to take offence from what I see in the popular press, being, as it happens, one that pretends not to have time to read the popular press, I will now blow my carefully built cover to bring to your attention a couple of throwaway images that caught my eye yesterday.

Firstly, without wanting to get after the Tourism Authority of Thailand too much, without quibbling with their use of elephants as the face of Thailand and not wanting to deny that elephants are the best four by four by far (to borrow someone else's tag line) whoever came up with the zero carbon emissions idea has obviously not spent an afternoon in my office-above-the-babies or stood behind Boun Na as she prepares herself to climb the hill.

Methane, if I remember my A-level Chemistry, is a basic hydrocarbon (CH4) and is certainly emitted here - eles must take some blame...

...but not all of it - I thought the following, from the Bangkok Post, was a little unfair.

Remembering old skills for the babies and the environment (once a logger, always a logger)

John Roberts — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:54:26 GMT

    What with the price of oil going one way and the stock markets going the other, the sea level is rising and the dollar's dropping it is time for each of us to think of what we can do to help the global situation so, when visiting the new baby elephant camp project in the old Anantara vegetable farm, I spotted several diminutive work men doing their bit labouring under large logs my first reaction wasn't to go and get the tractor to help them, but to think of my several, already fueled, tractor alternatives.

    It is also a well worn truism that the devil finds work for idle trunks and I do have to admit that I was thinking a little of my ladies back in the other camp toying with sugarcane on a quiet day in September - well it turns out that it hasn't been so long since the ladies were illegally logging in Thailand or logging illegally in Burma and though they've put on a few pounds - a little over-fueled if you like - they performed admirably and saved not only fuel and the environment but also the backs of some small construction workers.

We don't have any logging gear but the boys are experts so Boo See gets dressed up in an improvised fashion...

...note, it takes a couple of people to lift these logs...

...but Boo See can pull five (later six) with ease.

    Popping them into place with her nose!

    After a couple of runs Boun Na took over the pulling duties and Boo See was the arranging and stacking, but sometimes life is just so much easier when you work as a team!

Shocking tinsel and free-roaming eles.

John Roberts — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:52:13 GMT

    It is no secret, particularly to my mahouts, that I would love to see the eles here at Anantara and Four Seasons have greater freedom - particularly the babies. Some of the mahouts and owners agree with me and let their eles have pretty much the run of any area I can provide (my lack of ability to provide a large area is a recurring frustration) while some are still worried to let their babies roam or be left too far from camp at night.

    I have long known of the Royal Sponsored elephant re-introduction programme on several sites around Thailand, so when, on a recent trip to Lampang, I got the chance to visit their local site I grabbed the opportunity.

    I have to admit I had fairly low expectations, knowing the Lampang area pretty well - I thought - lots of denuded National Park style forest but criss-crossed by roads and villages.

    We drove down through a Government teak plantation, thirty-year wood in the process of being thinned out, and into an open grassland area and were presented with a vista - and what a vista, the range of hills that make up the border between Lampang and Phrae provinces spreading out before us in an almost 180 degree panorama.

    "Sorry we can't show you any elephants, but they're all out there somewhere" - fine by me.

    Unbeknown to anyone, it seems, and unadvertised, about ten years ago they let nine elephants go out there, now almost completely wild they are loosely tracked by a couple of mahouts who just keep an eye on them and steer them away from trouble.

    We drove back into the teak and for miles through rice paddies, along irrigation dykes and through private rubber plantations - they explained to us that the water was put in by the project, along with a reservoir, to pacify local folks for the loss of 'their' forest to the elephants - a great idea except that now, ten years on, businesses are drawn to the area specifically for the 'free' water and now the reservoirs, originally for the elephants, are beginning to run dry.

    After an hour of driving we came to the second site, in a forest contiguous with the first, and to something more applicable to our project, where, despite our best efforts, we are never likely to have 1,000,000 acres of Government forest at our disposal - at the second site we were shown the holding pens where the elephants get their first taste of going back into the wild, excitingly for us, the area is strung with some home improvised electric fence, solar driven and, somewhat festively, hung with silver tinsel.

    Even more exciting, it is reasonably cheap to construct and seems to work for (or against) domestic elephants.

    They let the new eles go in small paddocks of forest about 1km square, the mahouts stay close by at night, finding them every day at least once, just to check, and the rest of the time they get to roam 'as wild'.

    So, lacking shame, we took a lot of photos - we'll begin our trial run as soon as the new baby elephant camp is finished and, fingers crossed on the new land where ever that may be, look to roll out the idea in a whole new project.

    A dry reservoir in the wet season...

...Wildlife Conservation student Karen Kelly studies the board of released elephants...

...the shameless stealing of ideas and the wonders of cameras in mobile phones...

...the mahouts offer treats through the tinsel...

...Dr Cherry, our vet and Dr Pap, last year's vet inspect one of the yet-to-be-dehabilitated elephants and find an eye infection to be clearing.

    We even made it onto their blog...
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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Visitors visit a group of elephants which is rehabilitating in the electric fence project2.

กลุ่มพังซาร่า พังพรรษา พังเพชรา สีดอภาธร และพลายบริบูรณ์ ที่ปรับพฤติกรรมอยู่ในรั้วไฟฟ้าโครงการ 2

Mr.Roberts is studying our self-sufficiency electric fence style.

คุณ John กำลังศึกษาวิธีการเชื่อมต่อกระแสไฟฟ้าในการทำรั้วไฟฟ้าแบบพอเพียง

Mr. John Roberts, a group of The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation and Khun Prasob Thipprasert, a Special Pachyderm Advisor of our foundation visit The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation at Lampang Camp.

คุณ John Roberts และคณะจาก The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation พร้อมด้วย คุณประสพ ทิพย์ประเสริฐ ได้เข้าเยี่ยมโครงการคืนช้างสู่ธรรมชาติ จังหวัดลำปาง โดยได้เยี่ยมชมแคมป์ 1 บริเวณ โรงพยาบาลช้าง พลับพลาพระราชพิธีปล่อยช้าง ลานพิธีบริจาคช้าง และสุสานช้าง จากนั้นก็เดินทางสู่แคมป์ 2 เพื่อเข้าเยี่ยมชมโครงการรั้วไฟฟ้าแบบพอเพียง ทั้งโครงการ 1 และโครงการ 2 และช้างที่ทางมูลนิธิฯ กำลังปรับพฤติกรรมอยู่ภายในบริเวณรั้วไฟฟ้า

A hairy story and a serious grey area.

John Roberts — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:44:21 GMT

    Living with elephants ain't easy if you're by yourself, not only do you have a wife and kids to support for the most part, you have a three tonne eating machine to keep full, happy, healthy and in work.

    I came out of the jungles of Nepal full of conservation theory and fine thoughts, I disliked gimmicks and demeaning tricks, I frowned upon the elephant painting and the dancing, I surely knew enough to know that the selling of elephant byproducts, ivory, tail hair and the like was evil - even in the smallest most harmless case of personal sales where we knew the product was harmlessly removed or taken in reverence from a dead, long loved, elephant it was market creating and shouldn't be encouraged.

    Then, as time went on, I have to admit that I softened, I met the guys and lived with them, I saw them on the street, I knew them and knew their elephants - their one source of income - and came to figure, that with guidance on what was harmful and what was not, we could possibly support certain activities - we may not encourage it in this camp as we are in the happy position of being able to provide for almost all of the mahouts' and elephants' (reasonable) needs but we shouldn't be too quick to judge those with daily fodder bill and financial mountain to climb and only one source of income.

    If a painting or a trick, an elephant hair ring keeps the elephant fed for an extra day, means it has to do one less trek in the burning sun, one less hour on the streets, if an elephant football match allows a camp to keep a baby next to her mother and unweaned for an extra month before she has to go back to work then we should try to understand.

    I still draw the line at harmful tricks putting elephants into an unnatural position that will hurt their frame, I draw the line at the sale of ivory, even taken from a broken kanai or the byproduct of a shaved tusk, how are we to guarantee it?

    In an ideal world these things would be sacred and between a mahout, his elephant and their family - but I'm an old romantic and I waited for years for a mahout to give me an elephant hair ring from an elephant I loved before I realised that all the girls got them automatically and that nothing is sacred anymore.

    I asked for and was given (from Nong Pleum) the hairs inside our wedding rings, the elephant hair ring on my right hand was a gift, but not from a mahout, from an elephant I know, and didn't find a permanent place on my finger until there was something very special to symbolise.

    See, an old romantic, searching for the sacred in what has become mundane.

    But in wearing these things, I am encouraging a market? Elephant tail hair when harvested, one or two hairs at a time so as not to lose the fly swat quality is not a problem and no mahout is going to harm his own elephant - but where there's a market there are businessmen and where there are businessmen there are profit margins and where, as the story below outlines, there are profit margins there is greed.

    To be honest, I'm not sure what the best answer is, in theory I side with the conservationists, the creation of a market will lead to the expansion of a market and harmful practices caused by unscrupulous businessmen - but I still wear my rings and don't frown too much when a mahout will pick a tail hair and create a ring to give to a friend.

________________________________

Rings made of elephant hair flood central highland souvenir shops (Vietnam)

Thu Huong, Vietnam News Agency

August 31, 2008

To ethnic minority groups living in the central highland province of Dac Lac, a ring made of hair taken from an elephant’s tail is far more than an ordinary ornament. Because most people consider it to be an amulet that is expected to bring them luck in love, local couples often use elephant hair as a pawn in the game of love.

Although no one has ever been able to prove the reliability of such a rumor, rings plaited with elephant hairs are now appearing in many souvenir shops. But the consequences of such beliefs in the significance of the elephant rings are leaving a tale of cruelty – thieves are often the ones who cut off the tails of the massive beasts.

The elephant’s hair tail is worth VND200,000-300, 000 (US$12-18), depending on its length and a ring woven with elephant’s hair costs around VND500,000 ($30). Any ring inlaid with white elephant hair can be sold at double the price because it is considered rare.

Love-birds find that the exotic flavour is another attraction of the unique ring. This new trend has fuelled tourists’ quests for rings inlaid with elephant hair but at the same time has spawned a trade that involves gratuitous cruelty.

Y K’Tuk, an elderly resident of Buon Don, the province’s most famous tourism village, couldn’t hide his anger while recalling how his elephant lost his tail. "They sneak in at night when my family are sleeping. After his tail was cut off, my elephant was in so much pain that he couldn’t eat for days. I can’t bear witness to his suffering."

Most local ethnic minority groups like Ede or M’nong have a tradition of imposing stiff punishment on people who steal elephant’s tail hairs. The stolen hairs should be burnt as an apology made to the "elephant god". However, a blind rush for high profits has blighted people’s eyes to the danger and suffering they are causing.

Shopping for elephants!

John Roberts — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:47:22 GMT

...no, no, no - not going out buying elephants, though that's always fun, but a chance for you to combine elephants and a favourite pass time, without wanting to be sexist traditionally the domain of ladies, shopping for designer labels.

This initiative, of course, is bought to us by the ever stylish and innovative Perry and Lynn Butler of Footcandy Shoes and Juslyn Vineyards, showcased by their website www.elerescue.org.

Ladies and Gentlemen, dig deep and enjoy, all the proceeds will wing their way to our door!
_________________________________________

LABELS LUXURY CONSIGNMENT

Reserve a space at Labels for

ELERESCUE CHARITY SHOPPING EVENT!

...featuring current designer apparel just off the racks marked 1/3 of retail from... Footcandy, St Helena

A private catered gala Friday, September 19th from 5pm - 8pm...

call Labels for a Friday evening reservation for you & a friend!

Shop for elerescue all weekend! Saturday and Sunday - Sept. 20th and 21st!

Hundreds and hundreds of apparel items from the St Helena boutique will be available this weekend for 30% of full retail price. Proceeds are going directly to Elerescue!

Designer labels include

Moschino, Etro, Robert Rodriguez, Catherine Malandrino, James Coviello,
Phillip Lim & much more!

Footcandy, St Helena is a major sponsor of the The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Thailand. Owners Perry and Carolyn Butler created www.Elerescue.org to raise money to care for these beloved animals. Join us at Labels for this very special EVENT!

Friday evening will boast.....

racks & racks of fashion, a wine bar, hors d' oeuvres, and raffle prizes including.....

a pair of limited edition Manolo Blahnik shoes designed specifically for Elerescue.

(see www.footcandyshoes.com)

a Magnum bottle of Juslyn Vineyard 'Rescue' label in support of the Foundation. The 2001 Napa Wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc blend.(www.juslynvineyards.com is Perry & Carolyn Butler's Napa Valley Winery).

Please visit www.elerescue.org or www.helpingelephants.org
for more details, to contribute, or to learn more about the Thailand Elephant Golden Triangle camp.

Thank you for your support and humanity!

Labels Luxury Consignment

1367 N Main St
Walnut Creek, California 94596
925.952.4566

M-F 11am to 7pm
Sunday Noon to 6pm

(note: special hours for the Friday Sept 19 EVENT -
Regular store hours are 11am to 5pm &

Event hours are 5pm to 8pm)

On the theraputic properties of an elephant rhythm.

John Roberts — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:39:07 GMT

    One of those questions that pops up from time to time in the elephant camp goes along the lines of "So, John, what got you into elephants in the first place?" - being a tough, scientifically educated, Western male with his public image to think about I usually answer factually...

    "Well, it was circumstance, I needed to escape an old life, had some conservation experience and noticed that mahouts seemed to have the most fun, get the best girls and withstand the worst whisky - why not invent a position whereby I could hang out with them".

    But when pushed I do have to admit that well, there really is 'something about elephants' that makes them special, some folks see it in their eyes, some folks feel it in their trunk I think I feel it in the fact that their strength is so immense that with every limb, appendage (tail, trunk, ear and more I hear from the A.I. stories) they could not only break any restraint we put upon them they do have to actually concentrate hard at all times not to damage the puny two legged creatures they seem to trust.

    Every time they gently touch your face with a trunk that can easily move a tonne of teak, every time when annoyed they move you with just enough force to, well, move you rather than knock you 20 metres - they do seem to know what's going on and choose to concentrate to avoid damaging us.

    I have always said that the most dangerous elephants in camp are the babies that haven't worked out the difference between playing with their elephant friends and their two legged friends - feel the strength in a one year old who hasn't learned to concentrate as she easily knocks even the strongest of us aside.

    One of the best dwellers on this side of elephants that I have ever met, Khun Prasop Tipprasert, was also one of the first ele men I met in Thailand (actually met him in Nepal first) has long recognised this about his eles at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre and, about a year ago, set up a project to use elephants as therapists for autistic kids.

    His theory is that elephants and humans connect because they operate at the same speed naturally, they walk, think, investigate, grow up all on the same time scale. He further theorises that perhaps one of the reasons that we, as adult humans, have trouble communicating with autistic kids is that while they may operate at the same rhythm as ourselves our own prejudices stop us picking up on this, well chosen elephants bring no such prejudices to the table and can pick up on the rhythm of an autistic person in the same way they'd pick up on ours.

    This is all just theory but laudable in an elephant loving sort of way and to his great credit K. Prasop has not only gone on and used his theories to help Thai autistic kids, he has also done so in collaboration with the scientists at Chiang Mai University in an effort to bring some science in to explain what is happening here.

    To my mind the project hasn't received the press it has deserved and his results are undeniable, a spin off from the same team was announced this week - which ought to come as no surprise to all my guests who believe 'there is something about elephants'.
__________________________________

Elephant therapy to treat depression

APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

Researchers from Chiang Mai University (CMU) have a new means of fighting phobias and depression _ elephants. CMU had previously studied the effects of ''elephant therapy'' on autistic children and, having noted promising results, are now proposing a similar programme for people suffering from depression or phobias.

Audomsark Haesungcharern, dean of CMU's associated medical sciences faculty, believes the animals' voice may have therapeutic qualities.

Dr Audomsark says studies have found elephant calls contain infra sound, which is a relaxation tone, and ultra sound, which can engender active emotions.

It is these qualities, as well as previous results with autistic children, that lead the CMU researchers to believe elephants could help depressed people, or individuals with a phobia.

The elephant therapy scheme is jointly run by the CMU and the Forest Industry Organisation's (FIO) Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang.

The two organisations yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to further develop their elephant therapy programme for autistic people aged between nine and 19.

The studies began last year and looked into the effects on four autistic children of their interactions with elephants.

Results suggested an improvement in a number of areas, such as self-reliance and social reactions, after spending time with the elephants.

''[The results] were beyond our expectations. This has encouraged us to continue the study into how the elephants can help relieve the symptoms [of certain mental disorders],'' said Dr Audomsark.

Nuntanee Satiansukpong, who heads the elephant therapy project, explained that under the treatment scheme, autistic children will be matched with elephants based on their personalities.

For example, hyperactive children will be paired with calm elephants, while introverted children will be matched with enthusiastic elephants.

''An autistic boy who had never talked with or even hugged his parents did so after attending the elephant therapy project,'' she said.

The CMU and FIO plan to set up an elephant therapy centre once the study is completed.

There are around 200,000 autistic people recorded in Thailand.

Many medical researchers worldwide have found animal-assisted therapy to be of benefit to autistic people. Horses, dogs and dolphins are considered to have potential in this regard.

Prasop Tipprasert, the FIO's elephant specialist, said the centre had trained 20 elephants to work with children.

He said that safety is the most important concern, so all elephants are tamed and kept under close supervision

Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all.

John Roberts — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:56:25 GMT

...perhaps you have to be from Devon to appreciate this, but when a group of kids from the Ban Nana Orphanage (wearing yellow but perhaps unaware of the bad pun running through my head) turned up unannounced the other day for an ele ride the pictures I took pricked something in the back of my tribal memory.

    I knew I'd seen that picture before somewhere.

...grey we may be, but luckily that's where the resemblance to Mr Pearce' nag ends.

    Though I always fancied an ele that knows her way home may be a fair goer's best friend, especially now with rising fuel prices, in Nepal they used to tell of the 'good old days' when the mahouts would sneak out of the park at dusk to drink with the village girls relying on the eles to find their way home under cover of darkness.

    Here's to the good old days.

PS. For non-Devonians with no idea what I'm talking about, please see here.

Birthdays, bun-fights & beneficiaries.

John Roberts — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 08:19:38 GMT

    At the risk of speaking the blindingly obvious, this being the wet season, it has been raining a lot recently - not your normal wet-season sunny days with a couple of hours of randomly storming rain - this has been something extraordinary, days and days of constant rain, the wettest they say since '66.

    On the day that the river reached the staff compound, though, the rain stopped the elephant camp turned overnight from a 4WD only mudpit into our usual cheerful selves - once I looked at the webcam and almost called our tech guys until I worked out there was no problem, it only looked different because the sun was shining.

    Our coming out of the shelters and taking off our wellies coincided with a few other causes for celebration; celebration undertaken with the extra recklessness of a team emerging from under a dark cloud.

    First came a special, secret request from the many-time commentators for this blog, in the Two-Trees household - through covert e-mails, smoke signals and a hearty dose of sign language we managed to surprise and celebrate Phil Two-Trees' birthday over the ether and the webcam.

...all the eles got dressed up, as did Moskva's little sister Na Lak.

    On the day the waters came up we were all a little tired, up all night moving staff, floating shoes and accountants' five-year-old tax receipts to high ground, the day of the 14th of August passed without too much reflection - we knew it was special but had no energy to celebrate the 1st birthday of our next smallest elephant.

    A year ago Nam Khong was born into a smaller camp, fewer elephants, far fewer babies and perhaps a simpler time, she celebrated her birthday with a buffet of fruit for everyone and some new sponsoring parents in Kristin Feeny and Pat Donahue. True to form, she also celebrated by chasing me around the camp - not sure what she has against me, but it does seem to be just me; never mind, keeps me on my toes.

...seen here playing with her Mum's tail, at least, I guess, I can take comfort from the fact she seems to attack the ones she loves the most (yeah right - as they say).

...everyone got to join in, even Lynchee took a break from cleaning the camp to cause a mess.

    Finally for our trifecta of reasons to be cheerful we had a visit from a film crew and a first chance for the members of Raimon Land's management team to meet their new charge Nong Raimon as, within a couple of days of Khong's anniversary, she celebrated her first month.

    Raimon Land have adopted her and will make her the lynch-pin of a corporate social responsibility package, supported by a great number of staff who we hope will all be able to come and visit.

    Raimon herself didn't say very much but there were interviews for K. Au, Henri from the company and myself as Nong Raimon was officially welcomed into the Raimon Land family.

How do you get drugs into an ele? (aichmophobics look away now)

John Roberts — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:24:45 GMT

...no, don't worry, there are no needle photos here - I know better than to do that to you.

    I just thought I'd introduce you to a dilemma that Dr Titiporn has faced over the past few days with the new mum. Those of you watching the webcam over the last few days will have noticed our white wellied vet paying unusual attention to Bua Tong; without going into too many personal details this is because, after giving birth she developed an infection in a place where young ladies don't want an infection.

    The prescription is relatively simple - antibiotics and lots of 'em, watch the baby to make sure it doesn't affect the milk and keep the wound clean. The administration is slightly more difficult, how do you get the required amount of drug into an uncomfortable three tonne lady with a grasping trunk, flapping ears, sensitive taste buds and a high speed, knee height, inquisitive hairy monster to protect.

    Pills can be hidden in bananas and watermelons and are sometimes not detected - but this is a soluble powder to be injected.

    An intramuscular injection is the way to go then? Well, we tried that, but it is an awfully big needle and an awful amount of liquid to try and deliver in one shot deep into the shoulder - day one we got it done with a bit of a trumpet and a tantrum, day two, little bit more difficult ol' Tong was beginning to hate the site of young Miss Cherry.

    Being good at maths and Cherry having attended anatomy classes we realised we were running out of shoulders, her next suggestion was to try for an intravenous drip - good idea but how do you do that with an ele? The vein's easy to find, big and bulging behind the paper thin skin of the ears but how do you keep the apparatus in place and unripped-out?

    When Moskva caught diarrhea a while back we managed to get re-hydration salts into him by restraining him, but, though still massively strong, he is only six and has the advantage of an anchor point in his tusks - also just for a couple of hours on one occasion, not a full course of treatment.

    The first day we did it, the catheter being inserted with K. Au on her head and three off us hanging off the poor lady's ear - that bit unfortunately hasn't changed but may provide some comedy if you feel like webcam gazing - everyone laughed at my idea of putting an elephant saddle on her and K. Au himself stayed aloft for the couple of hours it takes for the bottle to drain.

    The second day, I'm please to say, we used the suggestion of the non-vet no-nothing foreigner and used the saddle - perhaps this can be my lasting legacy to elephant veterinarianism?

...somehow I doubt it though.

...and a gratuitous photo of sisters, Oum and Am.

Do they really all start out that small? (a long awaited arrival)

John Roberts — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:32:07 GMT

    Me? I blame it all on the storks, it can't be Bua Tong's fault she's too perfect an ele to play tricks like that, or perhaps she decided to spare me the excitement of playing midwife, thoughtful lady that she is.

    If we read the books we see that an elephant has a gestation period of 18 to 22 months, if K. Au had marked his calender properly it means that Bua Tong ought to have given birth sometime between April and the end of July - four months, one hundred and twenty days of opportunity to produce.

    With the deadline approaching and still no baby perhaps I shouldn't have gone to Vietnam and Bangkok on my recent ele mission, the odds were shortening fast (120 - 1 on April Fool's Day, 14 - 1 by the night of the 16th of July) but life must go on must it not?

    For some reason, then, I wasn't surprised when my phone went off at 0130 in the morning of the 16th to let me know we had an hour old baby girl - in fact I probably said something like "Oh, good" and went back to my dreaming.

    Back at camp, things were slightly more exciting, Bua Tong had started making noises at about midnight - she's been living in camp since the middle of April - by half past they knew something was up, K. Niang called Cherry the vet while K. Au (Bua Tong's Dad) went to investigate.

    The message Cherry got was that Tong was restive, by the time she and Amp got to camp the deed was done, a short legged, skinny little elephant was trying to come to terms with the outside world and a large, fuzzy haired, first time Mum was looking to her mahout for instructions, what am I supposed to do with that? - as with Nam Khong, she couldn't reach her mother's breast, unlike Nam Khong she learned to use the steps they built for her before dawn.

    A week and a bit later she's doing fine and her Mum's getting the hang of motherhood, she's been nicknamed Am (confusingly close to Amp for those of us who can't pronounce our Thai tones and consonants but apparently it makes sense sequentially as her two legged elder sister is called Oom) and has been named Pang Raimon by her full sponsors Raimon Land, the Thai property company that will take care of her bills for us.

    Bua Tong's extra vitamin supplements to keep that milk coming strong and healthy - as well as K. Au, K. Niang and Oom's life insurance - are being covered by Nathalie and Adrian Coe for which we are all tremendously grateful.

Confusing Cultural Conundrum in the Central Highlands (Elephant Town Vietnam style)

John Roberts — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:24:48 GMT

    I didn't know this at the time but there's a nursery song that every Vietnamese child learns, starts something like this...

    "Chew voi cong er Ban Don
    Chew cong nga, diew cong cher cong"

    It means, so I'm told (in all the excitement I didn't get time to learn Vietnamese), "In Ban Don there's a baby elephant, his tusks are small because he's still a child", I learned this song on a stormy road, with a belly full of Saigon Special beer and Vietnamese food, on my way back to the very town of Ban Don.

    "Voi" means elephant and the Thai scholars amongst you will have guessed that "nga" means tusk, because, well, it is the same in Thai - if you're an elephant nerd you'll find this fascinating - well maybe not, but I often say it was the mahouts who got me into this (usually uttered loudly and as an excuse in budget meetings, but in this case referring to my life and entirely positively) and the similarities and diversities between the various cultures of folks who devote their lives to their giant charges have always fascinated me.

    So what about Ban Don? About 35km from the Cambodian border in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, the capital of Dak Lak province until the French moved it to Buon Me Thuot citing Ban Don's heat and backwoods isolation; a town where everyone speaks their tribal language first, Lao second, Vietnamese third; where, driving into town, much like Ban Ta Klang in Isaan or Hong Sa in Laos, you can see eles grazing in rice paddies or walking down the road laden with wood; a town where an elephant boy can feel at home.

    But who looks after the elephants? My GPS tells me, probably illegally, I'm only about 500km from Lung Lord's house in Ta Klang (were I equipped with a helicopter), 500km and bits of three countries, so it would follow that the mahouts would be Khmer speaking Suay right? Wrong - I don't comprehend Suay but I got my guys on the phone to see if communication could be established, it could not. They all speak Lao (which is remarkably close to my inexcusable Northern Thai) so you'd think they'd be Thai Lue as in Hong Sa? Wrong, they all speak Lao anyway around here, these guys either live in lowland Laos style houses or communal long houses.

    Their equipment is a long pole with a spike and curve on top, a kind of medieval pike, of the kind I last saw in Sri Lanka - they know their elephants well, like professional, born-beneath-the-trunk generational mahouts and hardly ever use any implement; they also use a stick with a piece of buffalo horn on the end of a long string to extend the reach of their arm - something I've never seen used with elephants before.

    A little asking around and I discover that they are the Ede people, allegedly originally from Indonesia and M'Nong people migrated from who knows where? But when riding the elephants they sit like the Laos but give their commands in Suay - or a language derived from it - the language of the Isaan mahouts around Surin and Buriram in Thailand.

    To muddy the waters further they take me to a graveyard, a mausoleum reserved for their best elephant catchers, the greatest of which caught 427 in his time, including a white elephant that he presented to the King of Siam earning the Siamese princely title Khunsunob - there are graves of lesser huntsmen who only caught the odd hundred. Is it safe to guess that this area was under Siamese control at the time?  Is it safe to guess anything?

    How do/did you catch your elephants? In kraals and stockades like the Laos, Galieng or do you use lassos like the khru ba yai of Isaan? Ahhhh.... let us show you the equipment!

    Buffalo hide ropes and bamboo lasoo poles, exactly the same idea and equipment as in Isaan (actually this shouldn't be surprising as the lasoo method lends itself to the plains whereas the stockade to mountains) but on a little questioning it turns out the ceremonies and protocols are similar to what little I know of those used by the Khru Ba Yai of Isaan.

    To sum up, if not conclude, at the most famous elephant town in Vietnam, close to the Cambodian border, you find elephants cared for by an Indonesian speaking people, the leader of whom had a Siamese princely title but who speak pure Lao as a second language; their elephant commands are related to (possibly old and mispronounced) Suay, their traditions and handling methods seem to be directly Isaan.

    I scratched my head, had another Vietnamese coffee, reflected that their elephants were fat, happy and (at least at the Ban Don Eco-Resort) had plenty of room to roam so none of this really matters and, of course, a conundrum of this scale is always another excuse to re-visit an elephant town.

Ruby Wax to Rudy Maxa (more multimedia - set your VCR)

John Roberts — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:10:42 GMT

    Hot on the heels of Ruby Wax's piece managing to combine cold towels, George Clooney and our very own Puang Phet in one sentence (well, almost) and my alleged performance in the back of a New York Taxi (reported now from two sources despite my cast iron alibi) comes news of another chance for our American cousins to see a little of what we do.

    Rudy spent a few days with us, mainly concentrating on the Four Seasons side of the hill and a long shooting session down in the baby camp.

    Set those VCR's!
________________________

Rudy Maxa's World
Thailand, Golden Triangle
Saturday, August 9
2 p.m. (Analog)
(30 mins) CC LTR

Thailand, Golden Triangle

Tea plantations have replaced the opium fields in northern Thailand, but dense jungle still covers much of the area where Thailand borders Burma and Laos. Visit an Akha hill tribe village trying to maintain its traditions in the face of tourism. Meet elephants rescued from life in Bangkok at an elephant orphanage. Join Rudy as he takes mahout lessons and gets soaked steering his elephant into the river that separates Thailand from Burma. Explore the small villages that mark this part of the country and meet a Buddhist monk who uses horses, martial arts, and religion to steer young men away from the temptations of drugs being produced across the border in Burma. The saffron robes of Buddhist monks, the vivid colors of local blossoms, and the brilliant emerald of rice fields make the Golden Triangle a magical corner of the world.

Silk Secrets (or the superfluousness of Royal undergarments)

John Roberts — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:36:27 GMT

    I read somewhere, some way back, that the secrets of silk production were originally smuggled out of China in the bodice of an Imperial Princess on being sent into exile, marriage or both.

    I guess the forbidden city beauty was being sent to wed a hairy hun, a vile vandal or something similar to secure the Western border. Whatever the injustice she felt she was subjected too, the story went, she took it upon herself to ease her way in her new life by bringing on one of China's more closely guarded secrets.

    With this in mind, when, sometime toward the beginning of last cold season, the mahouts' wives pronounced themselves underemployed and offered to show us the secrets of silk weaving I warily agreed to fund the thing as long as everyone could keep their clothes on.

    The first thing to do was find and plant some mulberry trees, the things what grow the leaves what the worms eat - surprisingly easy, it turns out as, over the hill and past the lake, we bumped into a couple of villages that migrated up from the dry plains of Isaan some fifty years ago - a trek and a half that must have been - bringing their saplings with them.

    The ancestors of those original trees are growing strong and, after a little negotiation in the old language a truckload of dead-looking stalks was procured...

...chopped up...

...planted....

...and grown.

    After an initial burst of excitement we then went about our business for a few months, the trees grew, the silkworm house was finished but all the mahouts and wives could think of to do was look after elephants - no-one so much whispered the word silk, my proud boast of a pair of boxer shorts by Christmas was forgotten and, not being a party to the secrets of silk, I began to wonder if this was yet another project of good intentions fallen by the wayside.

    One hot and dusty day, however, the bones of a couple of looms arrived, some silk was smuggled up from Baan Ta Klang and the process of sorting began...

...the looms were set up and weaving began...

...according to K. Muay over at Izara Arts our ladies use an intricate weaving method, unseen in the North, that allows them to create exceptionally detailed designs - the eles here are Plai Tawan and Lynchee.

    Me? I'm just a heathen layman who's amazed by anyone who can create anything. So far, so impressed, I'm not a driven man and I don't drive my mob too hard - this was not quite the plan of having the hideously complex silk process happening in camp, but if we can turn out Tawan scarves with smuggled silk, well, isn't that amazing enough!?

    But the world turns, the bamboo turned a dessicated brown, at the beginning of the rains Lung Lord and family went home to celebrate K. Som's inauguration into the monkhood. When the time came for them to return they did so with an ele, Pang Lanna, who they'd just happened to find in their backyard, under the bed, behind the TV, something like that and, thankfully outside their undergarments (Lanna wasn't in hidden in undergarments either, unexpected she may have been, legal she was - is that an ele in your pants...?!) a little bowl of secrets.

...fat on Isaan leaves a tub of silk worms got into their first meal of Chiang Rai mulberry...

...when the ladies have decided they're fat and old enough - glad the ladies don't get to decide for me - they get popped into a 'condo' of twigs or a traditional silk basket...

...to spin their silken cocoons.

    Unfortunately the lot of a silk worm may not be a happy one, having worked hard, lead a pampered first stage of life it's true, you weave your cocoon, dreaming of mothhood, only to be boiled, stripped of your cocoon...

...and be eaten with a little salt.

    Do not mourn, though, for the poor worm; thanks to the sustainability of the process we learn that the lot of the moth is not glorious either. Yes you get to fulfill your destiny and decocoonate (or whatever the scientific description is), if you're female you then get to lay eggs, then, having fulfilled your evolutionary duty, all you do is wither and die.

...the large moths are egg laden females, the males at least get to fly for a day or so before popping off this mortal coil - the females leave the next generation of silk...

...to help the wives of the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation mahouts garner an extra income, or given the interest shown and their obvious skill, work their way to worldwide fame alongside their husbands and their eles!?

    For the worms, had they a choice, I guess the question would be whether 'tis better to live a dull day longer afore ye die or die to dye in a blaze of glorious colour?

    Each has their role to play.