Myanmar - a day at an elephant sanctuary

Having the chance to spend time with elephants was high up on things that Julia wanted to experience whilst on our travels. There had been options in Bali and Thailand but we felt they were heavily commercialised and more of a whistle stop experience rather than getting to enjoy some quality time with these gentle, majestic creatures.

A day with the elephants

We did a quick search on Google for Elephant Sanctuaries in Myanmar and top of the list was the Green Valley Elephant Sanctuary located just outside Kalaw. Highly rated on trip adviser, and with a focus on spending time with the elephants and not on riding them, we felt this sounded just what we were looking for. Plus it was hidden up in the green mountain landscape of Kalaw so even the surroundings would make for a great day too!

Green Valley Elephant Sanctuary

We booked directly with them over email. It was simple and they were so good with answering our questions to help us choose which of their packages sounded best for what we wanted out of the experience. They had two trekking options which weren't available due to the high temperatures, so we picked programme A; a day in the camp learning about the sanctuary and it's elephants, feeding and bathing them, planting a teak tree in their plantation, lunch and a nature walk through the sanctuary area as well.

Getting up close and personal

We managed to share their hotel pick up (extra cost at $10 pp) with a lovely French guy Alberto, and arrived to the elephant camp at around 9.15am. We were welcomed with fresh lime soda, a cooling towel and a friendly speech from the sanctuary's founder, before being introduced to Nelson; our guide for the day.

Alberto, Nelson (our guide) and Chris

There were a few other people around the camp but all seemed to arrive at different times and ended up in other groups, so we had a small group of five. The camp were great at rotating the groups around the site so we barely saw or bumped into the other 25 or so people that were on sight on the same day. Giving us plenty of unique and intimate time with each of the 5 retired logging elephants we were able to spend time with. Two of whom were privately owned by the founder, the remainder owned by the government who subsidised their care at the sanctuary.

Elephant!

Our day began meeting the first two elephants, one of which was still considered a baby at 6 years old. We quickly learnt that elephants barely ever stop eating, as we fed them pumpkin, banana tree stalks and homemade vitamin balls. The camp gets through 7,000 pumpkins a week...and you can see why as they put out their trunks to take not one piece of pumpkin but all the pumpkin you could hold in your hands in one go!

Pumpkins galore - they're favourite food

We then moved over to another feeding area in the camp and met three other elephants.

One of which had been beaten badly on her trunk in the past, making her less trustworthy about being fed to her trunk. So her Mahout showed us how to say 'Ha' to get her to open her mouth and put the food straight in which she much preferred!

Hand feeding

By feeding them we were then able to touch them and get really close, which was an amazing experience and felt like a privilege to be able to do so. Simply rewarding them with food would ensure they associated being comfortable about being touched with the pleasure of food.

Munch munch munch

We were then able to bathe one of them in the river. Each elephant is bathed twice a day as a way of keeping its body cool in the heat.

Bath time

The Mahout rode it down the valley to a beautiful patch of clear water, and we were able to jump into the water too, having changed into the baggy fabric shorts and flip flops provided by the camp.

Balancing is harder than you think!

One by one we were allowed to sit on its back and give it a good scrub behind the ears with a natural plant fibre used like a shower scrub to wash down the bacteria on their skin. We just had to watch out for floaters as they had a habit of using the bathe as a toilet stop too!

Mahout Julia 

This was truly amazing to be this close to such a beautiful and elegant creature, and getting the chance to sit (and attempt to stand!) on its back as well made Julia want to change career to a Mahout!

Elephant love

We had a talk about the elephant's anatomy from Nelson in the medical room, and saw each elephants' medical record book all written in English!

Elephant diaries

And stopped on the way back to the camp centre to plant our team tree seed, contributing to the reforestation of the area.

Planting our teak tree seeds

Lunch was delicious, soup, chapattis, curry and caramelised banana for dessert. Even a beer was included! We were then able with Nelson to spend the afternoon as we wished. 

Chris having a go at cutting banana stems

An easy decision - we went back to feeding the elephants and were lucky enough to be able to join another two elephants being bathed, pausing for a swim and gushing massage from the small waterfall nearby.

Swim time

At 3.30pm the elephants are left to their own devices roaming the surrounding landscape, so they have their own wild time. So Nelson offered to take us on a nature walk through the valley. 20 minutes in we heard a rustle in the trees and realised we had stumbled upon the 6th elephant - large angry male in heat. Nelson very quickly told us it was time to turn back and instead we trekked up the valley sides (hard in flip-flops!) through the plantation back to camp.

Nature stroll

We headed off at 5pm with beaming smiles from spending such a wonderful full day with these amazing and beautiful animals...elephant therapy should definitely be a thing!

Loving the elephants

We ended our day back in Kalaw at the small, cosy Hi bar for a few rum sours with our elephant day companion Alberto and the guitar playing locals! A perfect end to a perfect day.

Toasting the end of a great day with a rum sour!