Young elephant at Elephant Nature Park.

On August 19 I journeyed north of Chiang Mai to the Elephant Nature Park, which was founded by Sangduen “Lek” Chailert in 1995.  The ENP is basically a sanctuary for elephants Lek and her staff rescue from logging camps, trekking camps, villagers that find an orphaned elephant but cannot care for them, and sometimes even from begging on the street.

Visitors and volunteers pay to take care of the elephants in the idyllic setting at the base of lush mountains, which can mean anything from preparing baskets of food for the 33 elephants that call ENP home to feeding them, bathing them, or cutting grass with machetes.

Before I sat down to interview her, I had a ground-level view of Lek interacting with her herd of elephants, which include 2 babies.  At one point, I was literally in the middle of the herd—elephants all around me—filming Lek scratch the backs and bellies of the baby elephants while their mothers had lunch nearby.  For a split second I thought, one sudden move and I’ll be trampled; but the footage was amazing!

During her interview, Lek explained that her vision is to educate the mahouts (elephant caretakers), tourists and her government to take better care of the country’s symbol, by providing an alternative to work camps and begging.  For more information, please visit http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm

-Windy Borman
Producer, Writer and Director, The Eyes of Thailand

P.S. You can support the documentary production by making a tax-deductible donation through the film’s fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco Film Society, by clicking here.  Thank you!

Today I joined my friend, Peter, on a trip to Northern Thailand.  We stopped along the highway so I could film the scenic spots (i.e. rice patties at the base of mountains) and eventually made it to Mae Sai, the northern-most city in Thailand, bordering Myanmar (Burma) and part of the once notorious Golden Triangle.  Mae Sai had an interesting mix between Thai, Burmese, Chinese and English, as evidenced by the sign below and the Chinese style temple.

Store Sign in Mae Sai in Thai, English, Chinese and Burmese.

We crossed the border into Myanmar—which was quite an experience—and I bought a jade elephant and two Taiwanese style teacups, since one of mine broke this year.  Upon crossing back into Thailand, we did more jade shopping and I learned to feel the vibration of “live jade” and how to look for the Imperial Jade color.

On our drive back to Chiang Mai, we stopped at the Chinese cultural studies building at Mae Fah Luang University, which is a perfect example of feng shui architecture and landscape, and had dinner at a delicious hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Chiang Rai.

Outside the restaurant, not one—but 2—street elephants walked by.  The first looked about 4-years old and was playful and attentive when tourists and locals feed him, despite the elephant keeper’s bull hook poking into his ear on the side away from the feeders.  The second was only about 2-years old and his elephant keeper was cruel.  He pulled his ears and refused to let anyone feed it bananas, only the sugar cane stalks he was selling.  When the elephant took a banana Peter had in his hand, the keeper hit the elephant on the head with the sharp end of his bull hook and pulled him away!

I filmed both of these instances, including when we drove by the elephant and Peter threw the bunch of bananas for the elephant to eat.  I don’t know if the last part will make it into the film, but it was both good for documentary and hard to witness the elephants being so mistreated.  Especially considering that these young elephants were most likely wild-caught, meaning they were captured, had to watch their mothers die to protect them, and then endured more pain and hardship until they were “broken” into being street elephants.  If they survive until their 7th birthdays, they will receive their “license” (sort of like the title for a car) and then they can be traded, sold, purchased, exported at the whim of their owners.  This will continue for the rest of their lives, which can be up to 80 years old.

It’s a sad reality for an animal that is supposed to be the revered symbol of its country.

-Windy Borman
Producer, Writer and Director, The Eyes of Thailand

P.S. You can support the documentary production by making a tax-deductible donation through the film’s fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco Film Society, by clicking here.  Thank you!