One highlight of our trip was a visit to the Elephant Village. There are 158 elephants that live in the village, with 100 apartments. Each apartment can have three elephants and three (or more) elephant driver families, the operators said the whole compound had over 1000 people living in it. When we initially talked with the kids about riding elephants, they were neutral at best and some were terrified (because they are so big, I think). However, since it's something U and Me wanted to do, we decided to do it anyway. We have a lot of pictures from our experience, many of them taken from the driver of Rohini, which is why there are s lot more photos of her, Megan and U.
U and Megan rode on Rohini bareback. She was 38 years old and had a baby elephant. She liked to eat! Everytime we stopped, she was pulling up grass or picking branches to eat. U and Megan found riding bareback to be quite comfortable--they swayed gently back and forth.
Matthew was a bit nervous to ride bareback, so he, Sarah and Me rode on a saddle. This was actually a lot more jarring than riding bareback and if given the choice again, I think we'd all ride bareback. Our elephant was Gori. She was 32 years old and used to be a circus elephant so could do a few tricks like trumpet and blow air and water through her trunk. Here we are climbing up to the saddle.
Up in the saddle. You can see our elephant driver riding on the head of Gori. Rohini also had an elephant driver who led Rohini from the ground.
Heading out. Notice the building in the back. This was a storage building.
View from the top.
Me, Matthew and Sarah heading out with Grandpa on the ground recording our adventure.
Another building. This is one of the elephant stalls. You can see that someone has been using it for riding a bike as well. The stalls and apartments were built in pre-fab units that were all the same. Three stalls, three apartments and a common courtyard. There were more apartments than elephants.
Some other keepers with their elephants.
U and Megan were telling us how cool it felt to touch the elephant so Sarah and I reached over and touched Gori. However, Matthew was too small to reach so the driver offered for him to come up on Gori's head. I cradled him and passed him up to the driver.
Looks like fun to ride on the head!
Or stand on it!
Rohini eating.
Enjoying the stroll.
We were trying to get a side-by-side shot but it didn't quite work. I don't think the elephants are used to being by each other.
More food!
I like how the trunk is going back and forth in the next couple of pictures.
Down by the lake where the elephants can bathe and drink.
See how far open Gori has her mouth?
U and Megan on Rohini. Megan loved being so close to one of her favorite animals.
See Gori's trunk? This is what she will do when she trumpets and also when she squirts water.
Big hug!
We then fed the elephants bananas. They love them a lot and eat them quickly, skin and all. Here Matthew is feeding Gori. She liked have bananas places directly in her mouth and opened wide so we could put them in. In the background, U is giving Rohini a banana. She preferred grabbing them with her trunk and putting them in her mouth.
Oh no! Don't feed Matthew to Gori!
Everyone enjoyed feeding the elephants.
It looks like U is shaking Rohini's trunk here.
More bananas, please!!!
I enjoyed petting the elephants. They have such rough skin with sparse, coarse hair.
Into Gori's mouth.
Megan loved this so much.
Open wide Gori!
Grandma between our elephants.
Oh no! Don't squish Grandma and Grandpa!
No Grandparents were harmed during this activity.
Hug for Gori!
It's interesting that even though the kids were initially hesitant to interact with the elephants, it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for all of them. It was definitely a memorable experience!
