Elephants Don’t Surf! Pass it on…

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An elephant frolicking in FRESH water - as it should be. Note the lack of surfboard... "Watch this Ellie. Just one more push and we got us a waterhole!"

An elephant frolicking in FRESH water – as it should be. Note the lack of surfboard…
“Watch this Ellie. Just one more push and we got us a waterhole!”

Seriously, have you ever been out surfing and had an elephant glide past you on a wave? I’ll bet all six of my toe rings that you haven’t. That’s because elephants don’t surf.

There’s a series of photos and videos that have been making their way around the net for far too long. They feature a baby elephant ‘playing’ in the surf. It looks all very cute, but it is a very wrong picture. So very wrong! The Mahout Foundation have put out a video that shows what goes into the training of baby elephants – the ones you see in these ‘Have you ever seen anything so cute?’ pics, the one’s that are still unfortunately left in circuses, the ones you buy bananas for on the streets in Bangkok and the ones apparently frolicking in the surf, amongst others. Continue reading →

This One’s for Traveling Crone

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Fling yourself in the general direction of an American tattoo artist in a bamboo hut down a dirt track at an elephant sanctuary in a jungle near Chiang Mai and this is what comes up. There’s a blogger out there in the world who had a similar experience in the same place and ended up with a similar tattoo. You can read about that here. We’ve never met in person, but it would seem we have a wee bit in common… Lol. Cheers Crone, and cheers Jodi for a wonderful first-tattoo experience.

My first ever tattoo - had to be an elephant, right? Natch!

My first ever tattoo – had to be an elephant, right? Natch!

Free Shadows!!

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It is our right – the right of all beings – to cast our own shadow where we wish, a shadow that has no cuffs, no chains, no cage sides. A shadow that is business only between us and the sun that shines. This is the right of every creature, every being on earth, from the tiny ants to the largest beings on earth. Who is man to change that shadow? Rather, let us put our energy into ensuring that, as soon as possible, every shadow is free. If we insist on seeing ourselves as guardians of the earth, then let this be our aim.

Do what you can, from your little corner of the universe, to remove the things that shouldn’t be in anyone or anything’s shadow – no cuffs, no chains, no cages. Yell out for those who have no voice. Stand up and help whoever and whatever you can to have Free Shadows!

Early morning walk, Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai

Early morning walk, Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai

A Big Thank You for Donating to the Elephant Nature Park Projects

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A Big Thank You to these business in our lil’ town in New Zealand:

Whangamata Veterinary Hospital for their kind donations of supplies for us to take to Elephant Nature Park for their animals.

Sunny’s, Whangamata, for their donations of pencils and T-shirts for us to take to the free school for Cambodian kids that ENP is developing at the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary.

And Whangamata Library for donating books for the kids also.

Big smiles and thanks to all of you – I know this stuff is going to be really appreciated at the other end. 🙂

Mong Dee keeps bananas at the ready while Sao Yai bathes in ecstacy...

Mong Dee keeps bananas at the ready while Sao Yai bathes in ecstacy…

The Elephant Whisperer – Documentary, 2012.

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Produced in 2012, this is a documentary that features Lek Chailert, founder of Elephant Nature Park, and covers a wide range of the situations and issues of the Asian elephant today.

The reality is that the Asian elephant is becoming extinct. If we don’t all come to the realization that in little or big ways we can help the ones that are left, our grandchildren or their children will have to visit museums to gasp at an animal that until recently walked this earth.

What will they think of us, their recent ancestors, the ones that allowed the unethical treatment of elephants to continue, and allowed the extinction of them to occur? I, for one, don’t want to find out the answer to that question…

View the documentary here

Chang Yim - young male elephant and all around ratbag. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Chang Yim – young male elephant and all around ratbag. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

A Human Being is a Part of the Whole Universe…

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“A human being is a part of the whole universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

— Albert Einstein

"Our task must be to free ourselves from this by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." Albert Einstein. Elephants strolling by at Elephant Nature Park

“Our task must be to free ourselves from this by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” Albert Einstein.
Elephants strolling by at Elephant Nature Park