Adventures Riding Elephants in Laos

We’re home from Laos, and I want to
share with you about our adventure at the Elephant Camp where we were trained
in being a mahout (pronounced ma-hoot), one of those amazing people who bond
with and work with an elephant.

First of all, it was amazingly fun! We
got to ride the elephants three separate times, usually on our elephant’s neck
and not in the houda, which is the saddle. When you’re on an elephant’s back,
it’s hard to imagine you are actually on an elephant’s back. When you look down
the long distance to the ground, all you see is the top of a big grey head with
rough skin and some bristley hairs sticking out. However, if you keep looking
down, a long, sinuous trunk appears, and you shiver with excitement.

Riding an elephant is very different
from riding a horse. You’re sitting
right in front of the shoulders so your body shifts dramatically with each
massive step forward. This gets interesting when you’re walking downhill, and
your elephant shifts her head from side to side looking for food. Remember,
there is no saddle horn or mane to hang on to. Only your hands resting on top
of the elephant’s swinging head and your knees if you have them pressed against
the back of the elephant’s ears.

On the morning of the second day, we
took a long boat across the Nam Khan River and walked back into the jungle to
meet our elephants. Then we mounted and rode back to the river to wash them in the river. It
was a beautiful, warm morning, fresh and full of sounds. The elephants
themselves made virtually no sounds as they walked.

When we got to the river, my elephant Mae Wau walked right in and kept walking. She wanted to get to her breakfast on the other side, and nothing I or her mahout said or did was going to distract her from her goal. Instead of stopping and letting us wash her as all the other elephants did, she kept submerging her full body beneath the surface, tossing her head and submerging me at the same time. The cool water felt good, and it was fun.