Saving Elephants, One Exotic Vacation at a Time/media/minor/mhg/news/...Saving Elephants, One Exotic...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-07-27/ethical-elephant-riding-in-thailand-at-anantara-golden-triangle

SavingElephants,OneExoticVacationataTimeAnantaraGoldenTriangleinnorthernThailandisoneoftheonlyplaceswhere

youcanethicallyinteractwiththecountry’selephants.ByNikkiEkstein

July27,2017,6:30AMEDTI’mhalf-submerged in theMekongRiver—thewateryborder that -separatesLaos from Thailand and Myanmar—sitting atop a big-eared, pink-spotted, 3-ton

elephant named Poonlarp. Her skinlookssoftfromadistance,butit’smuchcoarser up close, covered in inch-longbristles.Hergait,whichatfirstgivestheappearance of flowing-through-honeymovement, feels wobbly up this high.She’s alternately headstrong andplayful. If you’ve ever walked a large,stubborndog,youhaveanideawhatit’slike to ride an elephant. This is the-bucket-listitemthatbringspeoplehereto Anantara Golden Triangle ElephantCamp&Resort.Percheddirectlyontopof Poonlarp’s wide shoulders, forcingmy legs into a permanent straddlebehind her ears, magnifies herimmensity. At one point, she takes adeep drink and sprays the watergleefully, like a living fountain, out ofhertrunk.ThepoolatAnantarafeaturesapatternofpoppies,anodtotheregion'sopium-producinghistory.

It’smy seconddayatGoldenTriangle, a63-roomhoneymoon spot set among thericepaddiesandteaplantationsoffar-northChiangRaiprovinceinThailand.Iflewwith my sister to Bangkok from New York, then caught an hourlong connectingflight.Thevanthatpickedusuphadmassagechairsinsteadofpassengerseatsandawelcome basket filled with cold face towels and elephant--shaped shortbreadcookies.Wearrivedaftersunset, intimefora latedinnerofpapayasaladandpadthai.Itwasn’tuntil5a.m.thismorning, jet-laggedandawakeontheterrace,thatI firstheardthesoundtrackofelephantroars.Itstartedoffquietlybutgrewlouderasthesunroseandabandoftiny--lookinganimalsemergedfromshadowsinthedistance.Theresortstartedintheearly2000s,whenBangkok-basedMinorHotelsacquiredaLe Méridien and transformed it into a five-star resort. The company’s chiefexecutiveofficer,WilliamHeinecke,hadthe idea to turn thenewproperty intoan

Amahout,wearingthetraditionalmohomoutfit—denim,redneckerchief,andyellowstrawhat—sits

atopanelephantatAnantara.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-07-27/ethical-elephant-riding-in-thailand-at-anantara-golden-triangle

elephant camp—he loves the animalsand felt the Polynesian-style resort’ssmall footprint on a 200-acre parcel ofland would lend itself to a luxurywildlife experience.The taskwasgivento John Roberts, a buddingconservationist who’d been workingwith elephants in Nepal’s ChitwanNational Park. He wasn’t formallytrained, but Roberts had a promisingvision of sustainable elephant tourism.Instead of buying the elephantsoutright, for instance, Anantara leasesthem on a permanent basis; itdiscourageslocalsfromsnaringanotheranimalinhopesofabigpayout.Fifteen years later, the resort hasbecomeagloballyrecognizedstandard-bearer for responsible wildlife tourismandoneoftheonlyoptionsinThailandforconscientioustravelerswhowantfacetimewithpachyderms.In2006,Anantaracreated a sibling property next door at the Four Seasons Tented Camp—amoreposhandcolonial-inspired,ifslightlylesselephant--obsessed,experience.Athirdcampisonitswaythisfall,ona44,000-acreconservancyMinorHotelshaspiecedtogetherintheCardamomMountainsofThailandandCambodia.Thisresortwill support an initiative to rehabilitate and rerelease native species such as theAsiaticwilddog,blackbear,andcloudedleopardintothewild.

Some animal rights advocates say theline should be drawn at looking, nottouching, and it’s an argument that’s-intensifiedinrecentmonths.OnevideomakingtheroundsonFacebook,postedin February by Unilad Adventures, anonline travel community with 1.7millionfollowers,beginswithawarningabout graphic content. “Thinking aboutriding elephants in Thailand?” the-minute-longvideoasksinblocklettersas a melancholic violin plays. It thenshowsbabyelephantschainedtoposts,workerskickingthegargantuananimalsas touristsstruggle toclimbontothem,and trainers prodding their thick hideswithlong,crudepickax-typetools. A 2010 study by the University ofOxford’sWildlifeConservationResearch

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-07-27/ethical-elephant-riding-in-thailand-at-anantara-golden-triangle

Unit exposed Thai elephant camps assome of the travel industry’s mostirresponsible businesses—not only fortheir poor treatment of the animals ontheirpremisesbutalsoforencouraginglocalstokidnapcalves,somelessthanayear old, from theirmothers and forcethemintosubmission.By 2014 influential travel operatorssuch as Intrepid Travel had removedelephant rides from their offerings.Mass petitions from World AnimalProtectionandChange.orgranguptensofthousandsofsignaturesinamatterofdays,encouragingmorethan100travelcompanies, including slower adopterssuchasThomasCookTravel, tonix theridesfromtheiritineraries.By the time Unilad posted its video,

travel junkies were primed to react with disgust. To date, the video has gottenalmost17millionviewsandabout400,000sharesonFacebook,alongwith17,000mostly horror--struck comments. “I wish I hadn’t contributed to this,” one userwrote.

ThesunrisesovertheMekongRiverinChiangRai.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-07-27/ethical-elephant-riding-in-thailand-at-anantara-golden-triangle

But in Africa, where poaching is thegreatest danger facing elephants,travel has actually proved a strongenginefortheirconservation.OutfitterssuchasSingitaareonthe front linesofthe issue, and Wilderness Safaris’ AbuCamp in Botswana’s Okavango Deltarehabilitates injured and orphanedelephantsandreintroducesthemtothewild.For Southeast Asian elephants, the bigthreat isn’t poaching but indenturedservitude. Roughly 30percent ofAsia’s40,000 to 50,000 elephants are incaptivity, often working underdangerous circumstances in forestry orperforminginthestreet.The region’s legacy of elephant laborgoes back 3,000 years. The tradition issoold,theArthashastra,anancienttextthat guided Indian kings in the firstmillennium B.C., gave instructions regarding the health of the forests whereelephantslived.Among mahouts, the once-respected class of people who work with elephants,fathersteachtheirsonshowtomanagetheanimals,thewayaranchertakescareof

horses. But elephants are far moredifficult to keep: They can eat 450poundsof foodaday—mostlybananas,vegetables,andgrasses.Considering how many elephants arestill incaptivity, “it’sextremelydifficulttocomeupwithworkableandelephant-friendly solutions,” says Roberts, nowthe group director of conservation andsustainability at Anantara. Outside ofthe resort, he helps run the GoldenTriangleAsianElephantFoundationanda program in Southeast Asia thatteaches mahouts a gentler trainingtechnique focusing on positive-reinforcement. In February he was inMyanmar working on legislation thatwould outlaw the capture of wildelephants.At breakfast on the third day, we’rejoined by a 5-year-old elephant named

Mahoutsandtheirelephantson-site.

Thepool'ssala,basedonafarmer'srestingspotinthericepaddies.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-07-27/ethical-elephant-riding-in-thailand-at-anantara-golden-triangle

PangLuck,whoregularlytakeshermorningmealinthecompanyofguestsontherestaurant terrace. Afterwe eat yogurt parfaitswith fresh passion fruit and localhoney,wegiveherhandfulsoftinybananas.Usingthetwopointed“fingers”attheendofhertrunk,shesucksthefruitoutofourhands,peelsitagainstherteeth,thenhelpshermahoutcleanupthediscardedpeels.Like most of the 22 elephants here, Pang Luck’s short life has seen its share oftragedy. She was rescued from street performing, where she was patted andproddedinexchangeforpocketchangeuntiltheageof3.Bounma,afiftysomethingelephantwithabrokenearanddistinguishingwhitehairsatthetipofhertail,wasill-suitedforloggingandspentyearsbeingbadlybeatenasaresult;herownertookherbegginguntilhegainedadmittancetojoinAnantara’scommunity.Whenanelephantisaccepted,Anantaraalsohirestheanimal’smahouttotrainandcare for it, employment that includeshousing,health insurance,andeducation forhis children. There are also opportunities for women to join a traditional silk-weavingcollective.A two-minutedrivebringsus to theDaraCamp,wheremostof theelephants “onduty” are relaxing in a series of open-air, canopied stables. One by one the giantcreatures amble toward us, perhaps not gracefully but with intention. Poonlarpwagshertailandbatsherlonglashes.Dah,whosurvivedonthestreetsofBangkokandPattayabeforecomingtoAnantara,wavesherearsbackandforthnearby.Bo,thelargestfemaleoftheherd,stretchesherjawopenfortheon-siteveterinarians,whorewardherwithhandfulsofsunflowerseedsafterasuccessfuloralcheckup.Elephants’memory has been the subject ofmuch -mythology—the animals neverforget,right?Absoluteproofofthatbitofconventionalwisdomremainselusive,butoverthepastdecade,scientistshaveconfirmedthatelephantsexhibitararelevelofanimal intelligence. They’re capable of solving simple puzzles and benefit fromregularmentalstimulation; likechimpanzees,theyusetools inthewild,usuallytoshooawayflies.Theycollaboratewithoneanotherwhenproblemsarise;theyflinchwhen they see a herd member get hurt; they mourn their dead. Elephants arecapableofgettingangrywithoneanotherandthenreconciling.Ittakesonlyaweekfor them to learn a command, such as baen (turn) or toi (back up), and they’recapableofmasteringasmanyas70ofthem.Spendevena little timewiththem,andyou’llsee it foryourself.Onenightweeatdinneraboveanelephantplaypen,whilebelow,Pumpui,who’s50-ish,affectionatelywrapshertrunkaroundDah’sbody,likeahumangivingaone-armedsqueezeofahug.LaterwelookupatthegleamingtusksandtoweringproportionsofPhuki,a4-tontuskerandoneof theresort’s twomaleresidents. Iofferascoopofsunflowerseeds.Hismuddytrunk-fingersgripontomyhandand,gentlybutwithaformidablewhooooosh!,theseedsaregone.Family suites at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort start from$1,707pernight,includingmeals,limousinetransferstoandfromtheairport,high-speedWi-Fi,andDaraCampelephantexperience.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-07-27/ethical-elephant-riding-in-thailand-at-anantara-golden-triangle

Mahoutsandtheirelephantsatthecamp.