ElephantStay

A few years ago I spent some time at ElephantStay in Ayuthaya, Thailand.  It's a non-profit that rescues and rehabilitates elephants.  You're assigned to an elephant and care for it during your stay.  My elephant was Ramruay.  It was really interesting bonding with her, and seeing how she really began to recognize me after a few days.  They also had a number of baby elephants that would travel around like a pack of 500 pound puppies, constantly getting into mischief.  For example, one night, they took all of the clothes that we had left out on the clotheslines overnight.  I just received an e-mail that Ramruay had a baby.  You can see pictures of her and her daughter at http://www.elephantstay.com/Elephant-nursery-2011.html.  I highly recommend a visit there if you have at least three days.  It's not cheap, but it's a lot of fun and the money goes to a good cause.  Here are a few pictures from my visit there.

Ramruay:

The babies: