Without a doubt, many in our group had been looking forward to today since the beginning of the trip — we spent the day with Thai elephants!

We journeyed north of Chiang Mai to the Thai Elephant Nursery, which is a home for elephant mothers and their babies. Elephants are considered youngsters until the age of five, when they are then moved to the nearby elephant home to be with other adults.

Before we met the elephants, we changed into traditional mahout (elephant caretaker) clothing, which we could get as dirty as needed. This was lucky, because as we soon discovered, caring for elephants is both dirty and incredibly fun!

We fed the elephants sugar cane and had the chance to interact with them up close. We took them on a walk through the jungle, understanding more about how the mothers care for their young as well as how they cool and clean themselves with dirt. Everyone was so amazed and in awe at the playfulness of the young elephants. They were sliding and rolling down the hills of dirt and even pushing entire trees over!

Then we had the incredible chance to bathe the elephants, a two-part process. We first took them into a mud pit and covered the elephants with mud, both mothers and babies. We all jumped in the mud pit to help rub the mud into the elephants skin! The second part of the bath was in the river, and once again we all jumped in and used buckets to pour water on the elephants and clean them off.

Being so close to such beautiful creatures really illuminated the importance of these magnificent animals in Thailand. While elephant riding is now a part of Thailand’s tourism, oftentimes these elephant riding camps are harmful to the animals and very disrespectful to animals that have always been revered throughout this country. We felt fortunate to have a found a home that practices true conservation of elephants. We undoubtedly will carry the desire to protect and care for elephants always!