Observing Elephants, Learning Presence
By Jessica - 2 week intern
After 4 hours through winding roads and a national park, we arrived in the lower village of Ban Naklang. I stepped out of the van and felt the crunch of dirt track under my sandals. We’re almost there.
The volunteers and guests in my group pile into an open-bed truck waiting to take us the rest of the way. I glimpse two children sitting in the open window of a home, curious eyes focused on the newcomers. They are tentative- shyly observing us until I give them a wave and see a broad smile flash across their face.
Our new transport takes us through rugged dirt roads lined with simply constructed wooden homes, fields of corn and rice, and some community buildings.
We are greeted by several village dogs and the smiling faces of the KSES staff. The excitement continues to build as we are shown to our home stays and take in the surroundings.
There is much going on- roosters calling, hens shuffling along with their chirping chicks, water buffalo chewing their lunch, women weaving colorful bags and clothing. You hear the sound of the river rushing and the song of small birds in the highest branches of a tree. So many things happening at once and yet I felt more at ease than I’d felt in a long time. There is something uniquely harmonious about this place. No frills, just abundant life coexisting. We have arrived in Ban Naklang.
The volunteers and guests gather the next morning for breakfast before the 8am hike - we are about to see the elephants! The energy is buzzing and although it’s chilly we are ready to embark on our maiden voyage through the forest.
We follow Rose, one of the women in the village. She calls the mahouts to gauge the coordinates of the elephants that day speaking in her native language, Pakinyaw. We cross a wooden plank bridge to a harvested rice field and we see them. Sri Prai, Mae Doom, and Junior- the mama, the auntie, and the baby. Everyone is in awe and a stillness falls over the group. There they are - eating, interacting, being. It’s in moments like those that you grasp the sheer size and presence of these beautiful creatures.
But they are so much bigger than their size. They have deep emotional connections, they mourn together, they protect one another.
As an intern, I was responsible for recording daily behavioral data for the elephants. We observed them for 90 minutes, noting behaviors like foraging, elephant interactions, tool use, and drinking. Beyond that, you start to notice the little things. The way Mae Doom stays close to Junior, always keeping tabs on the whereabouts of the strange human onlookers. A fierce guardian. The way Junior’s trunk clumsily reaches out to explore his mother’s face.
When you take time to be present and notice the things that may otherwise slip by without examination, you can truly begin to learn and understand the world around you.
As someone that worked a desk job for the past 8 years, I stopped picking up on the little things. I didn’t stop to smell the freshly cut grass outside my window, didn’t listen to the sound of the mourning doves cooing, didn’t see the butterflies fly by. My time at KSES has been transformative in many ways. I came to marvel at the giant elephants and left with a deeper & quiet appreciation of the little things.
