Elephant Nature Park: the grounds and its people

Elephant Nature Park is considered the best sanctuary around and is a model that is being copied globally.  ENP rescues abused elephants about Asia.  (I may have stated some of this previously, but I want to give a base for the photos that follow)  It is about an hour and a half outside of Chiang Mai, which is in Northern Thailand in the jungle.  It was gorgeous, peaceful and tranquil.  The elephants and all the animals are treated humanely and no task is required of them but to live and breathe and be...
I would guess that ENP is about 100 acres that is adjacent to mountains and jungles.  There are over 75 elephants, 400 dogs, 200 cats, water buffalo and even a few monkeys that live there along with 200 or so Thai folks that include cooks, welders, builders, mahouts (elephant minders), cleaners, vets and more...  The grounds are kept clean and even with all those animals it is rare to see poop about the park - unless it is your job to pick it up that day...lol!  This was an amazing experience and I would totally recommend it...  enjoy these photos and have a great day today and a better one tomorrow...

the view from our afternoon massage: a cool breeze, green trees and soothing hands - what more could a body want?

dumping the elephant poo, Joe gets the tractor stuck in shit...lol

these kettles are constantly under fire - note how they load the wood...they cook tamarind to make into sticky treats for elephants - it takes about an hour to cook it down, then the voluneers go to work making balls about the size of cantaloupes

the arch way is surrounded by Cat Land and is the long walk from our cabin to the dining hall

here the tamarind is about to be taken off the fires

It takes about 5 tons of food daily to feed the elephants!

watermelons, pumpkins, tamarind balls, bananas and rice balls

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an old fashioned way to make popsicles

I got into the shaking thing - popsicles were tasty frozen treats

 the massage gals help prep food in down time

Mahout Band plays fun music with Lauren

G takes over the bottle for a rip roaring version of ABC's

the garden ladies beautify the cat area