The Greatest Day of My Life - The Elephant Ferrari

First picture I took of this beautiful girl!

July 14th, 2013 will forever go down in history as the greatest day of my life. For those of you whom do not know, I am an avid elephant lover - obsessed some might say. It would be a dream come true if one day I were able to open an elephant sanctuary and rescue abused and abandoned elephants. On this day I got to experience a bit of what doing this would be like.

<3

Before I talk about my amazing day, I wanted to give you all a little background about the organization I did this through called Elefantastic. Below is an excerpt from an email correspondance that I had with Rahul, the owner, before visiting his elephant village. It's a little long for an excerpt, but I think you'll find it fascinating!

Look at her adorable ears flapping =)

"Although Elefantastic was only born last year on 21st February 2012, my family's involvement with our elephants stretches back over four generations. My great grandfather was an elephant rider in the Royal army - army to the King of Amber Kingdom. For my grandfather’s diligence and loyalty to the army, the King of Amber Kingdom presented him with one of his elephants as a gift, in order to sustain a living for his family after he left the army. Since then it has been our family tradition and continuing career to become elephant riders.

She's so freaking cute!

Before Elefantastic materialized, I was an elephant rider at Amber Palace for nine years, providing riding tours for the many tourists that visited the palace. Although I enjoyed being an elephant rider and met many tourists doing so, I wanted something more meaningful, not for me, but for my elephants. Many of the tourists I came into contact with were interested in the day to day life of elephants rather than just wanting an ordinary ride. This helped me realize that I wanted to show people a more in depth insight into the lives of my elephants. There are vast misconceptions across India that animals, especially elephants are very badly mistreated. I decided I wanted to take a step forward in eradicating these misconceptions and show people that this is not always the case.

She's just always posing

This decision inspired me to start Elefantastic, we aim to give you the best possible insight into the daily lives of our elephants. You will see that all of our elephants are well fed, with spacious rooms, weekly vet check ups to make sure they're as healthy as possible and are taken care of by loving and caring riders. I want people to see that Elefantastic isn't just a business or a tourism trade for me, it’s my life. I want people to realise how important my elephants are and their well being is of the up most importance, this is reflected in how well treated and happy they are on my farm."

Nom, Nom, Nom...

Myself, Marisa, Avnish, and Melanie all went to Elefantastic. Elefantastic is located in Elephant Village. There are 108 elephants in elephant village. Rahul owns 25 of these elephants and with them runs Elefantastic. Most of these elephants are used by the government to provide rides in the morning to the Amber Fort. The village is government sanctioned, but the government provides no monetary support for the elephants. They are individually owned and assigned to a family that takes care of them.

Feeding the hungry girl!

Introducing ourselves

Every 2 people would receive an elephant. When we arrived there were five elephants underneath a shelter eating, two of which were unoccupied -- meaning they were ours =) Avnish and I paired off with Sampa while Melanie and Marisa paired off with Chanchal. Words cannot even begin to describe the feelings I had when I first met Sampa. She was so beautiful. Raja, her caretaker was feeding her corn when we arrived. I immediately walked up to her and introduced myself. I stroked her trunk and the side of her face. The most sensitive area of an elephant is right underneath her mouth, so I rubbed there as well. I just stood and talked to her for awhile. Elephants have horrible eyesight, but they have  impeccable senses of smell and hearing. Rahul explained that the best way to bond with your elephant is through feeding them. Every time you feed the elephant, the elephant smells you. Each of us has our own distinct smell, and this is how the elephant gets to know you. I was never for a second afraid. Rahul told us to get as close to them as we wish. He explained that the elephants prefer this very close interaction. So for the beginning portion of my day I fed Sampa, petted her trunk and under-mouth region while looking right into her eyes and talking. It was so amazing. I couldn't get over it. It was such a beautiful moment. I honestly cried a little. I just felt such an overwhelming feeling of love, and I never wanted to let her go. Every time she grabbed a bundle of corn from me with her trunk she would whip it around with her trunk and ring the bell she had around her neck as if to say, "Dinner time!" A few times she leaned in towards me with her mouth opened wide and would not grab the food with her trunk. Rahul explained to me that this was a great honor because she was trusting me to feed her directly. So, I just put the corn stalks straight into her mouth! It began to rain pretty fiercely, and Rahul explained that if it rained too hard the events for the day would be canceled. I got so scared! He said that elephants have extremely sensitive stomachs, and if it gets too cold they get sick quickly. He also mentioned that they love the rain, so a little rain was a positive thing for them! We just continued to feed them until the rain slowed down.

Video of Chanchal eating :p

Umbrella Picture lol

After the rain settled a bit, Rahul took Avnish and I to a ladder platform area where we mounted Sampa. We RODE HER BAREBACK! It was seriously so cool. Raja sat right on Sampa's head during the ride. Raja was the only one of the caretakers to ride the elephant with the Elefantastic participates. Upon inquiring why it was explained that Sampa was the fastest elephant on record in India. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to instruct her without Raja riding in the front. The other caretakers simply walked along side the other elephants while the participants rode. It was so cool being up there! Honestly it was a lot like riding a horse, but without any reins to hold onto. Sampa was second in the line of elephants. Chanchal, the elephant Marisa and Melanie rode, was the leader. The reasoning was because Chanchal was the slowest out of all the elephants. Having her in front set a nice slow pace for the rest of the elephants to follow. You could tell Sampa was slightly flustered at times because of this. She just wanted to zoom on past, but Chanchal would never let her. Chanchal would always move herself to the side Sampa was trying to pass from because of this. Despite Sampa's continuous passing attempts, Chanchal's caretaker explained that Sampa and Chanchal were best friends out of this group of elephants. They also explained that Chanchal and the elephant at the end of the line were NOT at all friends with one another (hence why one was at the caboose while the other led the group). We rode down to the pond and then back again to the shelter where we were feeding the elephants. All the while Raja, Avnish, and Chanchal's caretaker kept making jokes about Sampa continuously trying to pass Chanchal on the path. They kept saying things like 'this is how a Ferrari feels when it is stuck behind an Eicher (apparently it is a bad Indian based car manufacturer)'.

I was just ridiculously happy

Look Ma, No Hands!  

She's the greatest!

Helllooo down there!

When we returned there were all natural paints made from crushed stones with bamboo brushes waiting for

The Paints!

us. We were told the caretakers could draw traditional Indian symbols on the elephants for us to paint or we could design our own. Avnish is basically an artist as well as a chemical engineer, so we decided to do our own designs. Avnish sketched most of the design on his hand and arm throughout the whole process for practice. He would then hold it up close to Sampa to make sure we were getting her approval and that she liked the design. There is an old saying in India that goes, "Elephants don't mind being painted, as long as the design is good, and you paint them well." <--well this is the closest English translation I could get. Sampa ate some more while Avnish and I decorated her. I just talked to her the whole time. Remembering everything is making me get all emotional. She was seriously the most beautiful thing I have ever seen (with and without paint..mostly without paint..I'm no artist even though Avnish is :p). It began raining again during the painting, but it wasn't a big deal since we were under the shelter. Eventually it slowed down, and we were able to move on to the next activity.

Chanchal's headband!

Making a flower =)

Painting a Crazy Design

She's so happy! =)

I absolutely adore this picture =) I wish I were with them right now.

Avnish and our beautiful girl!

Raja taking Sampa to get saddled

Feeling Chanchal's pregnant belly

Afterwards we took the elephants back to the pond. Sampa had already been in the pond that day, and needed to get prepared for the safari ride later, so I spent some time with Chanchal at this point. Rahul said that no one has their own elephant for this part of the day, and everyone was welcome to play and wash any of the elephants. This was seriously the coolest thing. The elephants ran right down the ramp straight into the water. They were so excited to swim! One immediately began pooping. Some of the workers were grabbing poop from the lake and throwing it to the side in the rocks. The water we were swimming in was obviously not the cleanest, but I didn't even care for a second. I mean I was about to swim with elephants! We were all given scrub brushes, and I immediately went into the water and started cleaning Chanchal. The elephants all looked so adorable in the water! They would roll around and spray water with their trunks. After we scrubbed them down it was time to play! The caretaker showed us how to get on the elephant in the water. I grabbed one ear in each hand. Then I put my knees to my chest and pressed them against her trunk. She then lifted it and I 'walked' right on top of her. I looked less than graceful when doing this. Melanie, Marisa, and I all did this and then jumped off of her into the water. After jumping off I started talking to Chanchal. She took her trunk and grabbed my hand. It startled me at first because that trunk has an EXTREMELY powerful grip. She then started swaying my arm back and forth under the water. I think this is the closest I'll ever get to holding hands with an elephant. It was seriously the most adorable moment of my life. I love elephants =D When it was time to leave the pond, the three of us climbed up Chanchal's face again while in the water. Chanchal then walked right out of the pond with us on top of her, and we went back to the original shelter.

She was moving away when this picture was being taken lol

Scrubbing away =)

Having her trunk scrubbed is her favorite!

=)

Her trunk is peeking right behind my head lol

One of my favorites! Her trunk is poking up out of the water and everything

Mid roll!

Climbing Chanchal! Hilarious/Awkward Video of me climbing up poor Chanchal

We did it!

Trying to stand up

Me failing at standing up

Omg...

We

Finally

Did

It!

Jumping in!

Giving some love

Climbing on again!

We're on!

And coming out of the water!

Walking out of the pond!

Drip dry

Walking back!

Marisa is a floating head!

Singing

On our way back we learned some of the words to the song "Haathi mere Saathi." Haathi means elephant in Hindi (and in the week leading up to this elephant adventure Shreyoshi taught me the phrase 'Tum haathi ho' which means you are an elephant :p). There is a whole movie that was made around this phrase "Haathi mere Saathi." It means 'Elephant my Friend' in English, and the song we learned part of the words to is a name sake of the movie. The song describes a guy whose care is stuck. He sees his elephant friend and sings to him asking him to please push his car because it is stuck. It continues by narrating that a lady is in the car so please push it slowly and gently as to not frighten her! Below is a video of us singing part of the song. We hadn't learned all the lyrics quite yet so we sang the ending wrong, but that's okay. Chanchal's caretaker spent the whole ride back from the lake teaching us this small part.

Singing Video

At the shelter we washed off and changed clothes (well, Avnish did. The three of us girls just stayed in our wet ones). We then loaded up into vans to take a short drive to the jungle. This part of the jungle had a lion and tiger rescue center on the premise, so there was a chance we would see them (we didn't end up seeing any, but you could certainly hear them! The lions were so loud!) When we arrived, five elephants stood before us looking pretty fancy. They were dressed in the traditional elephant riding gear with the saddle and all. Raja sat on top of Sampa wearing a turban. Sampa was still sporting the paint designs that Avnish and I made. She was the only one out of the five that was painted. Again Avnish and I made our way up a ladder platform combination except this time we sat ourselves down in a saddle. We went on an hour safari ride. I kept hearing these strange 'meow' sounds, so I asked Avnish what it was. He told me that it wasn't a 'meow' sound, and instead it was a 'peow' sound. Apparently this is the sound a peacock makes. Avnish and Marisa then spent the next 20 minutes arguing over what the sound was (Marisa was still convinced it was a 'meow' sound). Avnish kept doing his peacock call which was hilarious. He was actually really good at it. As we approached the lion/tiger area we could hear them roaring! Rahul, who was walking along side the elephants said that as we got closer we would be able to 'feel' the elephants start communicating with each other. The elephants do this by vibrating. These signals are sent through the ground and felt by the other elephants and in some cases heard. They grumble at extremely low frequency, and it is extremely difficult to hear if you are a human - but easy to feel if you are sitting on top of an elephant. It's called seismic communication. Elephants are so freaking cool! It started to rain on us during the safari ride, so they let Sampa pass the leading elephant in order to set a faster pace for all the elephants (she is seriously so fast it is crazy) in order to get out of the rain.

Avnish never gets a picture right the first time around...

Picture!

Getting ready to safari!

This is Rahul! He takes such good care of these beautiful animals!

Sampa always has to have a pace maker in front of her!

Pretty Jungle!

<3

Raja! He's been taking care of Sampa since she was born!

I was so very sad to leave Sampa. We didn't really ever get a proper goodbye, but I know I'll see her again one day. I will definitely be visiting elephant village again in my life. Sampa is only 35 years old and elephants can live well into their 70s, so I have lots and lots of time. After the safari ride Rahul drove us to his mother's house. Here we had some of the most delicious Indian food I have ever had. Seriously, homemade Indian food is the best. Honestly the afternoon was worth every single rupee. It was a total of 5100 rupees (~88 USD at the current conversion rate), and I wouldn't even hesitate to spend that much to repeat this day in the future.

It was seriously a magical and incredible day. It was my favorite day. It was the greatest day of my life.