It's an Exciting World

The elephant nature park staff picked us up at 8:30 and we got on the road. We stopped off at a rest station for drinks and saw all the other people doing the one day package.  On the rough road to the park the van ended up getting a flat tire, but we were close enough to just get another van to cone pick us up.
The park is in a valley with a river going across one side. It is very pretty and the elephants are roaming around more or less freely. There were two elephants in chains, both males, that were too unruly to allow to roam. The first thing we did was to feed the elephants. We then got to hear some of the stories about how the elephants have ended up at the park. Many of them came from the logging industry and were worked hard there. They have broken legs and put out eyes. Several of the elephants are blind from abuse by previous owners.  There are a few babies at the park; one at two months one at six months. They are very cute especially when playing in the mud. We went down to the river to wash the elephants and they let us throw water on their backs. It was lots of fun to interact with the elephants in a situation where they have some agency. It was pretty clear that we were in their space not them in ours.