My elephant was 10 years old, called Nui and was a trouble maker. She spent the day splashing me with water and mud at every opportunity and was never more than a few seconds without something to eat in her mouth. Jason's on the other hand was a 34 year old matriarch called Kapor who was going to do things her way no matter what Jason or her mahout said. After devouring the basket of fruit we offered as bribery to make them like us it was time to check on their health. First - wagging ears and tail means a happy elephant, perfectly stationery probably means a sick elephant. Secondly - we had to check for dirt patches on both sides of the elephant to make sure they were turning during the night. Thirdly - we checked that the sweat glands were working properly, you find those just above the toenail. Lastly - we checked the quantity and quality of the dung. Reassured our elephants were healthy it was time to give them a clean. We assaulted them with bunches of leaves to get rid of the loose dirt before heading down to the river (you lead an elephant by pulling on its ear and saying 'ma' for come - or in Jason's case the elephant leads you as you dangle from its ear) for a proper wash. This was when Nui's personality came out as she liked to splash her trunk around, or just suck water and mud in and spray it at me. The mahout would notice her starting and try to stop her, but sometimes he missed the signs.
At the end of their bath things dissolved into (admittedly staged) waterfight. We threw water at the elephants, then turned around to pose for photos whilst they showered us with water in revenge. The elephants won.
After a short break for the elephants to eat some more it was time to learn how to get on. Option 1 - You ask your elephant nicely to bend it's leg, then you step on the back of the ankle, then the knee and somehow jump from there to its back. Option 2 - You ask your elephant nicely to bend it's trunk, stand on it and get lifted to the top of the head where you have to turn around. Option 3 - Ask your elephant to lie down and just walk up to the neck. No one in our group went for option 3. I choose to be lifted, whilst Jason clambored up. The videos are very entertaining with different degrees of grace.
From there we walked a short way up the road before heading into the jungle and walking along an incredibly narrow path made our way up and down hills on the way to the waterfall. Nui in particular did not like getting muddy, so rather than following Jason and Kapor we tended to go the route that the mahouts were walking which I'm sure were narrower than her feet and occasionally involved jumping over a gap! We made it to the waterfalls were our elephants were swimming, with us still on their backs. It was kind of disconcerting to be sitting on an elephant which was no longer visible and then a trunk would grab your foot and you wouldn't know whose trunk it was. Wet and happy we ate a little lunch, but fed the majority of our food to our very hungry elephants. We took the easy route back to camp before walking along a river to the end point of the day.
So today we are sore (arms from cleaning the elephants) (legs from the riding position) (shins bruised from the strength of the elephants ears) but happy.
