Xe Pian National Protected Area is in the south of Laos and a large area of mixed terrain from wetlands to forested hillsides. We went there to with the primary purpose of fulfilling Mary's passion to ride an elephant and ride elephants we duly did. We signed up for a one day taster of training and a trek as a mahout. We had a two hour training session in the morning learning the basic commands including go, stop, left and right but also trample down obstruction! After lunch we went on a two hour trek up a forest road to the ancient temple / fortress of Wat Phou Asa on the top of the nearby mountain. The mahouts rode in the baskets to make sure we did nothing too rash. Needless to say after four hours of bare-back riding an elephant we had aches and bruises in unmentionable places but well worth it.
There were times when both of us felt quite precarious, we were some 9 feet up, astride their necks and wobbling around quite a bit until we got the hang of it. They are immensely gentle creatures, who are surprisingly adept at moving through quite tricky spaces. This was evident on the day that we went on a jungle safari where they moved through some very tight tracks between the trees. On that day, we had a picnic in the jungle and the guide had brought bananas with him; needless to say, Peter only managed to get his hands on one, the rest of them went to the elephants.
Whilst accomplishing these amazing feats of skill and dexterity, (never to be repeated again), we were staying at a truly lovely place called the Kingfisher Eco-lodge. When we had some times to rest we were able to enjoy some wonderful views from the balcony of our stilted bungalow.
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| Bungalow |
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| View from bungalow |
How exciting, that looks a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteI have ridden in the basket thing and that was none too comfy!
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