Finding Courage, Community, and Elephants in the Forest

By Brianna - 3 week intern

Thailand has been the first country I've traveled alone too, while the thought of traveling across the world alone freaked me out, the passion to learn more about wildlife and about the process of reintroducing animals back into their natural habitat made me push that fear behind.

The ride from Chiang Mai to Ban Naklang was unbelievably beautiful seeing the mountains stretch into the distance, mountain hills covered in corn with little huts in the middle, motorbikes zipping through anywhere they can, small food stands scattered along the road, and the long winding roads that seem never ending. Which leads to Ban Naklang where I met the wonderful staff at KSES. Their warm smiles and genuine excitement to show the small Karen village they call home made me feel instantly welcomed. 

I loved everything about the village seeing the dogs, cats, chickens, and water buffalo living their lives the best, they harvested, they played, they sun bathed, and slept just living their little lives in such a beautiful place. And one of my favorite parts of each day was watching  the water buffalo cross the river, especially seeing the little one bravely make its way across the big, intimidating current. 

And of course I loved hiking up every morning to go see the elephants and observe them for a few hours. Every single hike felt like the first with the excitement and the igurness to go see them. I never wanted to miss a single movement they made. I loved watching them interact with one another and explore the world around them.

And seeing Junior explore his environment was the best and very entertaining to see, as he playfully annoyed Boon Rott by playing with his tusk and ramming into him. And him just running around playing with the mahouts and getting distracted by every single little thing. It was also incredible to see how Mae Doom, Sri Prai, and Dodo would immediately run to protect Junior whenever they sensed danger or whenever he became scared.

Observing the elephants and learning more about them reminded me again how important all animals are no matter how big or how small, and that reintroducing them into their natural habitat is possible but only with the support of the community.