Mahouting in Luang Prabang

To-do Today:
1. Wake up
2. Brush teeth
3. Feed & bathe the elephants
4. Ride the elephants into the forest for the night
Phew, what a day! We signed up for a day at the elephant camp and learning how to be Mahouts, or elephant handlers. Our guide, Did (pronounced like Deet, the stuff we’ve been showering in to avoid the mossie attacks), picked us up around 8:30 and drove us to an elephant camp about an hour outside town, past the whisky village, down a windy creviced dirt road, into the jungle. Once we got there, we quickly made friends with our charges, Nam (meaning “beautiful” in Lao) and Ohn (meaning “pink”), by feeding them a few bunches of bananas. Then, we went on a guided ride through the jungle, sitting on a chair perched atop Nam. I think this was meant to ease us into the concept of elephant riding, because next thing we know, we each had to mount Nam and Ohn bareback and ride them down to the Mekong river for bath time! Besides Nam trying to buck Russ off a couple times, they were quite happy to swim around the river, dunking us under every so often and then coming back up for air. The funniest part was when Nam relieved herself in the river during bath time– it’s tough avoiding those giant elephant pies!!

After bath time, we walked them back up to the camp for a rest before taking them into to the jungle to hang out for the night. Not a bad life for an elephant, and certainly better than that of many who are still used for logging in Laos. We were happy to support elephant tourism and have an amazing experience in the process!

Later that night, we had the chance to try some authentic Laos cuisine as we got invited to Did’s house for dinner and to enjoy a meal prepared by his grandmother. It was really great to get such an up close and personal view of the culture & to make some new friends in the process. Did has a big family and while we were sitting around the table in the front yard, several of them and some riends stopped by to say “Saba-dii “(Hello, in Laos). What a tremendous day!