"".-<:" v.. «ILJFE IS EITHER A DARINGADVENTURE ORNOTHING. »HelenKeller , i STARTRIBUNE,COM/TRAVE L · SECTION G • SUNDAY, DE CEMBER 1 2 , 2 010 i " I I i I I 1 I 1 ! 'I I An elephantfarm in Thailand worksto boost the country's elephant populationwith help from adventurous visitors. a;- MEl.ANIE RADZICKlMCMANUS to determine who is the best match for Special. to the Star Tribune each elephant. Since there were 11 oth­ er visitors that day.I had a l-in-12 shot at he had me ,at tho e [JIst Wl!ve of getting Khuan. her trunk.Khuanknew from Teerapat (Pat) Trungpakan, owner of experience that she wasabout Patara along with his wife. Dao,began to meet her new handler for calling people over to one of the wait­ the day -i- and.more impor­ ing elephants. Now there were just two =S .. get to snack on~ome tasty banan­ of us left, and two elephants, Do-Do and as, 5'.:=cane chunks and tamarind Khuan,Then Trungpakan said:"Mela­ ~ dusted with salt. And, it seemed, nie, can I please have you take care of s.:.e really didn't want to wait. this 19-year-old elephant?Her name didn't blame her one bit. Khuan is Khuan,and here is her mahout, Na­ ; ro::~unced Kwahn)was pregnant. kum," ~y pregnan t, After more than two I rushed to face Khuan, stopping a ye:...-s of toting around a bull calf;she few feet back so she could get a good ': on.; allowed a little impatience. Our look at me, as instructed. Grabbing a .. locked and she wagged her trunk smallbunch of bananas from my wood­ ;;;: ::le '83 ;;1 her mouth parting slight­ en basket, I held them high and said, :r:o exposea giant, glistening,pink "Da?,"a sound which roughly means ' :-~ e.. "Food?"in Thai. Khuan nodded her "'1: b ow, Khuan, I know. Just a few BARTCOENDERS (above):SHl1T!'ERWORX(top) massivehead, ears flapping and tail :::eIre r:±::::es," I said to myself,and her About3,000 domesticand 1,600 wildelephants nowliveinThailand,a fractionoftheir popula­ gently swaying, and opened her mouth. ==::oe headed bobbed up and down, tionjust 40 yearsago(top); healthyelephants showa willingnessto"talk"to humans (above). "Hie," I said,indicating she should keep s !: ~ e 'd somehow read my thoughts her mouth open as I began shoveling d ..as b fullagreement, Although I'd met Khuan a mere five minutes ago,I wasal­ the bananas,tamarind balls and sugar cane onto her wet tongue. She quickly swept dr.:;:. I it's:had to be paired with her. But that wasn't up to me. the entire lot into her mouth. ::e..--:azPatara 2e;:::ac: Farmin Chiang Mai,Thailand, the staff begin sizing up "-:, ';:::S i:. ± e 2e;:ia.:.t Owner for a Day program the minute they arrive, trying Thailand continues on G4• 04, TRAVEL , STAR TRI8U NE ' S UNDAY , DECEMBER 12 ,2010 Onthebacks ofgiants inThailand .. T H AI LA N D FRO M 01 . ",\ . » "Dee dee, Kbuan," I said ~.2::l the basket wasempty, in­ ~-jng she'd been a good girl h :tbg her trunk, I stepped baccto see what came next !l<pIlanb In ThalIand Thailanders domesticated elephants 800 years ago, us­ ing them initially as transpor­ tation for people and good s, Trungpakan told our grou p when we first assembled. Th e pachyderms were alsoused in battle. For the past 400 years, Thais mainly used them to log forests. Unfortunately, that meant the giant beasts were forced Ito decimate their own natur al habitat. After centuries oflog­ ging, 80 per cent of Thailand's forest s are gone, and the ele­ phant popul ation has shrunk from roughly 6,000 domes­ I tic and 10,000 wild animal s 40 years ago to just 3,00 0 do­ mestic and 1,600 wild tod ay, 1htngpakan said Eventually, the Thaishalted their wanton forest destru c­ tion, the n began reforestation efforts. Today, Th ais have re­ stored . 10 perce nt of their country's ruin ed forest and are on track to make that 20 per­ : cent during the next 15years, I 1hmgpaken told us. And the ! eleph ants? Th e Th ais also created an elephant reintr oducti on pro­ gram, but in Tnmgpakan's view, that's not the answer, at least not yet. "You can't just suddenly put domestic ele­ phants into the wild," he said. Photosby M.l!LANIERADZICKJMCMANUS· Speciai to theStarTrilbune "The ir survival rates are too Steeringan elephant on a ride at the Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai, Thailand. involveskickingbehind the animal's ears and uttering various comm ands in Thai. Ilow. Plus there's not enough Iorest rand androod yet. Ana· poachers kill them for their a matte r of kicking behin d my ivory or to steal their babies to ride's ears and uttering various put into a circus or zoo." Tbaicommands I'dphonetical­ Thesolution.sai d Tnmgpak ­ ly scribbled on my armsbefore an, is eleph ant cons erva­ , moun ting. tion and rebreed ing, which is . ', I While visitors enjoy this what Patara Elephant Farm is part of the itine rary, it pro- all about. "I adopt elephan ts -, vides elephants with daily ex­ people don't want anymore ­ Iercise. plus a treat: Th e water­ healthyone s with the potential 1 fallis one of theirfavorite plac­ 'to live 80 years and pro duce a es to drink and relax. baby. Then we focus on mat­ A Our group stretched out , ing her e, not artificial insem­ along a small highway, me- I ination. becau se that doesn' t : thodically plodding along as work; spiritually, something is ~~;~;:~~ ~o~e :::~:~ missing"Trungpakanmightbe I on to something. Patara, Thai­ back was magnificent, and I land's only elephan t breeding I felt like a queen. farm, has 24 elephants. Dur­ -r:...:: , -II On ce at the waterfall, we ing my trip, an impressive four Each participant receives a basket ofbananas,tamarind ballsdusted dismounted to a bountiful pic­ I I were pregnant. with salt,and piecesof sugar cane tofeed the elephants. nic lunch that include d sticky To furth er its mission, Fa­ rice with chicken. rice with tara encourages guests to vis­ eggcustard and steamed sticky it and learn about its magnif­ 1 1O',;;i ·----- - - - - - - ·- - rice with banan as,all wrapped icent creatur es while helping 1 in banana leaves. As we ate, care for them. Or, to put it an­ the elephants slipped into the othe r way, ''You pay to come 0 """" water to play. When we'd fin­ here and do all our work so aua.,, ­ ished eating, we were invited we don't have to," 'Iruagpak­ to swimwith them. an said with a smile. That was • OVilUlgChan tt:: Back at the farm, our ele­ more than flne with me, as Thailand J,,;w, seo pban ts rested a bit before one well as my fellow visitors, who final ride through the country- came from the United States, Bangkok V I " '~ side. We were encouraged to Canada, Austria, France, Ger­ o ~mh<>d j l< try sitting atop their heads this many, Puerto Rico and Singa­ time, with our legs dangling pore. We quickly climbed into over their faces. It wasunne rv­ our mahout, or elephant keep­ ing to ride withou t the relative er, clothing - simple, roughly ..!-- ­ Indian security of being tucked be­ Qo,u, woven tunicsand pants - and 3!iOnuieJ, A hind Khuan' s neck, but 1 re­ got ready to get down and dirty ._--- membered 'Ihmgpakan saying with the elephant s. b.,··­ RAYGRUMNiY · StarTnb=e how surefccted the animals Khuan,a as-year-old pregnant elephant at the Patara Elephant are. And 1trus ted Khuan. Blephant Cue101 Farm,proved a trustworthy partner. IF YOU GO Before departing . I had 'The .basics of daily ele­ ChiangMai 15 in northern Thailand,aboutan how's to find out why I'd been phan t care aren't that difficult. flightfrom Bangkok.TheElephantOwnerfor a Day paired with Khuan. Perhaps First, look for signs of a happy, above their nails is damp. Last check what's inside, If you fmd Tnmgpakan sensed a mutual friendly animal:flapping ears, a comes the poop inspectio n. a whole leaf. that means the el­ programat Patara Elephant Parrnlastsabout seven affection. Or maybe I exuded a swishing tail and a willingness "lots of poop means they're ephan t has bad teeth, and an hoursandcostsabout $200,includingtransportation calm, nurturing air perfect for to "talk" to you. "If you talk to eating." Trungpakan told his elephant with bad teeth won't fromyowhoteland lunch Forinfonnation onVisiting a past-her-due-da te pregnant your elephant and it doesn't novice workforce. "Six poops at live long." eleph ant reply, that's not a good sign," a time is the minimum accept ­ As much as I'd bon ded with Thailand,gotowww.tourismthailando rg.Tolearn YWe though t we had one said Trungpakan, adding with able quantity,so count them." Rh UaD. I didn't really want to moreaboutthe elephant program,gotowww.patara extra participant coming to­ a grin, "It's the same thin gwith We dutifully began counting smell, squeeze and flick her elephantfarm.com day, and we'd have to doubl e my wife." the large lumps around oure le­ poop . Thrning toward her you up with another person Next, inspect their teeth as phant s' behinds. To my dismay, turd s with a sigh, I saw Na­ - and Khuan is the only ele­ you feed them, and check for Trungpakan then picked one kwn pe rforming the poop in­ phant that canhan dle two rid­ dirt on their sides, which indi­ up.