Elephant Village, Laos - Mahout Training!

Riding elephants was high on the list of things I wanted to do while in Southeast Asia. However once there, I did not get the best feeling about it, especially in Thailand. Most of what I saw was elephants lazily meandering along, with families sitting idly in a special chair harnessed to their back, while a trainor leads them slowly around a predetermined path. Didn't seem all that fun, for the people or the elephants.

No thanks

However the much less touristy Laos, once known as the "Land of a Million Elephants", seemed to have some better options. I did my research and found a special sanctuary in Luang Prabang, Laos, where they brought in "retired" elephants to live out the rest of there lives in a nice peaceful place. I learned that while massive herds of elephants once roamed free in the jungles, today only around 1,000 remain, half of which are used in the logging industry. And from there the story gets pretty grim. Apparently the logging industry is expected to diminish greatly over the next several years, leaving many of these animals "jobless". From there they are either sold off to the highest bidder (probably for elephant rides in Thailand), or worse. Attempts to reintroduce domesticated elephants into the wild have failed and is not considered a viable option. So what is?

Ironically, tourism. But unlike what I described above, a more sustainable solution that is mutually beneficial to both the animals and the local people. Thats where the Elephant Village comes in. As their website states, "Elephant Village gives rescued elephants a safe, new home where they are free from abusive work. Elephant Village provides local villagers a better livelihood so they can stop their slash and burn tradition." I was sold. Upon arriving into Luang Prabang, I booked my tour - the "1 Day Mahout Experience".

The morning of our tour the van picked each of us up at our respective hostels and we were greeted by our host for the day. I really appreciated that they sent the host along for the morning pickups, as the Elephant Village was about 45 minutes outside of town and we used that time to ask questions and learn about what to expect from the day ahead. There were only 6 of us in our group, including my friend Sandra that I had met the previous day, and we all hit it off great.

Once we arrived I knew we were in a for a treat. The property was beautiful, more like a resort, except one with elephants just grazing about.

But we weren't there to just look at the elephants, were were there to become mahouts! Haha. So after a brief introduction, we learned a few basic commands in the native Lao tongue, and the instructor demonstrated the proper way to mount, which involved commanding the elephant to lift it's leg up like a stair and then grabbing its ear to hoist yourself up!

After a quick test drive to get our bearings, it was time to really test our skills! Check out the video link below for the full experience - through the jungle, into the river, and then to meet the little guy, Maxi!

Elephant Village, Laos - Mahout Experience

What an unforgettable day!

 

 

My buddy, Maxi!

 

And a special shout out to the real Mahout that I was paired with. I can't remember his name, and he didn't speak much English, but he was an absolute character and so much fun to work with. And seemed to really enjoy his job, as you can probably tell from the video ;)

 

 

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