Photo Essay – A Week of Volunteering at Elephant Nature Park. (Contains Many Photos and Much Waffling.)

A baby banana-hoover learns how to do it.

A baby banana-hoover learns how to do it.

September 2013 and I was at it again. I traveled back to Thailand and instead of wallowing at beach resorts and quaffing drinks with little umbrellas in them, returned to Elephant Nature Park, a sanctuary North of Chiang Mai, and volunteered my sweat and gave myself some blisters to remember. This time I went for two weeks instead of one, and also hauled my partner along so he could see what I had been rabbiting on about for the last year or so. Here’s a photo essay on being an ENP volunteer.

Firstly, this is where we slept. We were surrounded by Australians, so we dug in, marked our territory and guarded it fiercely. It was a great spot – it had a huge veranda outside, complete with guard dogs and several cats, and our room had a bed with mosquito nets, an open-walled ensuite, a tiny frog and a gecko. Unfortunately, it was situated up some stairs. Fourteen steep stairs to be exact. I know this. I counted them at the end of each long, hot day. Fooouuurrrteeennn of them…

NZ territory - right smack in the middle of Australian territory.

NZ territory – right smack in the middle of Australian territory.

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Camera Rambles: Hello Ducky

P1000364 72I spent a couple of hours with these guys. Once they realised I wasn’t made of bread they went back to doing their own thing. Continue reading

Camera Rambles: And Now For Some Elephants – Faa Mai Leads the Ditch Appreciation Project

While I was at Elephant Nature Park, Jodi and I happened across Faa Mai and a few of her friends indulging in some ditch-diving. Faa Mai was enjoying herself so much she got in and out about three times. Little Dok Mai was very happy to copy what her big herd-sister was doing. Here’s some of the footage I got…

vlcsnap-2013-11-15-22h48m23s140 Continue reading

Camera Rambles: Buffalo Sludge-Boulder Portraits (and a Cow)

I’ve always loved the look of buffalo – magnificent beasties. I finally got my chance to get some decent photos of them at Elephant Nature Park this year. Most of them were taken on zoom, so no sludge-boulders were disturbed during this filming. They did take a good look at me for a little while, then went back to the business of applying their mud packs.

Buffalo1 72

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Camera Rambles: Hunting Dog – Elephant Nature Park

Just a series of photos I took of one of the Park dogs hunting goodness-knows-what in the grass while we worked nearby. The ‘Platform Dogs’ – ones that roam freely around the Park – often follow the volunteer groups around and lie down or play nearby. It was such a nice setting on this morning – early morning sun, green grass, dragonflies flitting by – that I had to capture this little moment in Paradise on camera.

DogHuntSeries1

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Camera Rambles: Jetlag and Brain Snags

TokayThat strange place you’re in when you’ve just arrived home from another country, climate and culture. My brain keeps wondering why it gets dark so much earlier, there are no geckos crawling up the walls and my feet feel confined in shoes. Continue reading

New Page – Postcards

Front of Postcard free with set of Six - Please Don't Ride the Elephants

Front of Postcard free with set of Six – Please Don’t Ride the Elephants

I have added a page with the postcards on that are available. These are to raise money so I can return as a volunteer to Elephant Nature Park. Postcard page here