Kanchanaburi, Thailand 5

Kaew Elephant Camp


Saiyok Noi


Kanchanaburi, Thailand





We took a long dirt road into the jungle to Kaew Elephant Camp in Sai Yok Noi, Kanchanaburi. There are many places in Thailand to ride elephants. After all was said and done, I think it was a good way to do it. There were only six of us left on the tour. Three couples. And there were three elephants. Two males and a female. So it’s not like a tour bus full of camera snappers piled into the camp. It was very quiet, peaceful and the elephants were happy to see us. The first male was waiting in the mounting post when we got out of the van and started climbing the ladder. It’s dick hit the ground with a thud and scared the hell out of us.

With that, I let the Dutch couple go first and we rode the female. She was the one without tusks. Her name was Samui. There were no babies in camp because apparently, Samui doesn’t like the other two males. “No boyfriend ! No poke poke poke!”, the driver told us.

The driver was Note (as in ‘take note’) – a barefoot farmboy with 4 cigarettes and a lighter in one hand and a large, sharp iron hook in the other. If I were alone in the jungle for a night, this is the one thing I’d want to have in my hand. He used the blunt end to crack the elephant on the head, which meant “get walking!”. It made a thud and vibrated throughout her whole body. Then we’d lurch forward slowly, as if she was lazy, had the drill memorized and looked for ways to piss him off. Elephants are known for being quite smart, and smart asses too.


We fed the elephants bananas. They'd already eaten half of the trees we passed. But they love bananas. The elephants smile when you feed them bananas.