Tuesday, January 17.... Elephants everywhere!

 I woke on this brisk cool morning to the sound of barking dogs and the loud trumpeting of the Elephants... The Elephants are the roosters here at the Elephant Nature Park ~ when the first light of day begins to show over the mountain the Elephants begin their song.

Today was the first full day of our daily duties here at the park. We will all be separated off into groups, and each group will be assigned a task for the morning, and then again after lunch. Some jobs are not easy work, but they are all very rewarding when you see what the end result is of all this work.

There is so much work to be done here everyday to keep the park functioning, and a large amount of it is the result of the volunteers. The work that the park and their foundation has been doing for animals is amazing, and I highly recommend that you check out the site and inform yourself with their cause. They took it upon themselves to travel hundreds of miles to Bangkok and rescue the dogs and cats that were left behind during the floods. The work that Lek and all the people who work with her have done for animals is truly amazing!!  Please take a look at this video on Youtube.com about the rescue they did in Bangkok ~ Just the compassion of these people brings tears to my eyes!

THE VIDEO

Morning time ~ Still in the shelters.

Always plenty of playing going on around here.

Lots of volunteers getting ready for the day to start.

Buffalo and Elephants

We have been assigned our morning chore and are headed out to get to work.

Bill and his Daughter Cat headed out to do our assigned work.  Their family is from Oakland, CA ~ West Coast!!

There is the work for today ~ This is the Elephant Mud Pit, and we need to bail all the water out so they can put new water in. It would probably be much easier to use a big pump, but.... Then what we do for work??? This was definitely a barefoot kind of job ~ almost knee deep in the mud!

This is Nicolas, he is one of my roommates and he from France. He also has a blog that he is doing that  is done all in French.

The water is all gone ~ Mission accomplished!

My feet are looking and feeling great!!

All done and headed to the river to clean some of the mud off.

Hey look it is one of the Elephants!

The meeting area where we find out what our assigned duties for the day are going to be.

More of the information boards.

You can also sign up for the Vet program ~ I think I might do this on Friday, but I also want to go help with the 160+ rescue dogs that are here at the park now.

That is the door to the room I am sharing with two other volunteers. We were lucky to get a room with a bathroom, but the shower is cold water only!

Inside the room.

My Bed

Someone wants me to come over with some food.

The afternoon job today was working on building a new walkway.

It was actually turning out pretty nice!

Lots of helpers

Mixing cement ~ That is what I did during most of this project.

Placing all the rocks in the cement.

Many Props go out to this couple ~ If it wasn't for them ENP couldn't be what is is today.

Looking out towards the clinic.

James Bond ~ This one is a biter, but he will let me pet him from time to time... It is all on his terms!

The Local Starbucks..... Well, it is coffee anyway.

This little dog is so cool.... He is kind of hairless, has big chihuahua ears, and one of his eyes is sewn shut. Some of the girls here are calling him Cyclops.

Meeting of the Mahouts ~ Actually waiting on Pay! Every Elephant has a Mahout ~ He stays with the Elephant all day everywhere that the Elephant goes... He just follows the Elephant around kind of like a babysitter.

This little one sleeps next to where I sit working on my blog everyday.

MOOKIE ~ This dog has been here for a long time. I guess he likes sleeping under the newspapers.

Learning Thai language at a night time gathering.

Also learning the Banana Song ~ This one I actually had to get up in front of the crowd and dance along with some of the other guys!!

After the nightly gathering it was just a little bit of time working on photos and the blog, a nice shower,and then off to bed fairly early. I need to be up early and see what kind of work I will be involved in for Wednesday... I will keep you posted - Pictures and all!

Thanks for following, and sorry for the delay in getting the blog post out. I will try to get caught up again over the next couple of days.

Have a Great Positive Day!

Leo