老挝的历史象征迎来更加光明的未来
在离琅勃拉邦不远的一片交织的柚木森林中，我跟随一头庞大的象母和她身后的一只小象穿越一条冰冷的山涧。威严的Mahn在四岁的小象Kit之前领路穿越细流。
我掐了掐自己。我简直不敢相信自己如此接近这些在森林中觅食早餐的丛林生物。
小象Kit看到喋喋不休的小溪时犹豫了一下，后退了一步，再次前进，然后四处碰撞，寻找不同的路线，将他的人类观察者驱散开来，而他则在寻找通过的信心。看到这只小小的厚皮动物正在学习的过程实在是一次神奇的体验。
Kit是13只亚洲象之一（也是唯一的幼象），它们生活在南康河畔的MandaLao，正在过上新的、更快乐的生活。MandaLao是由美国人迈克尔·沃格勒成立的，与共同创始人一起于5年前成立，这里的大象都是从伐木营地救出来的，它们将迎来没有繁重劳动和游客骑在它们背上取乐的新未来。MandaLao为野生动物爱好者提供一系列的步行和伦理相遇体验，而且距离琅勃拉邦很近，非常方便前往。
在MandaLao的河边位置，导游Mr. Keum告诉我们的小团队，当老挝政府在2016年关闭伐木营地时，大象失去了工作。今天，他们住在一个“五星级酒店”，Keum说道，同时向我们展示了大象在来到MandaLao之前的照片。
Vogler’s ultimate aim is to send those captive elephants who are able to survive in the wild to a National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA) in Laos in a bid to ensure the species’ survival. Once known as the Land of a Million Elephants, Laos now counts less than 800 wild and captive elephants with numbers declining due to poaching, hunting, illegal wildlife trade and unexploded ordnances.
“We can’t bring back one million,” Keum warns, “but we hope to increase the population to six or seven thousand.”
After a safety briefing and a tip from Keum: “We can kiss the elephant but not the mahout guide!”, we cross the river on a canoe to meet some of the waiting, and hungry elephants.
Thong Khoun, a 47-year-old female, is eager to snaffle the bananas we’ve brought her. When our attention is turned to other stabled elephants in the group, I spy her determination: she draws out her trunk as much as is physically possible and tips over a basket to snatch the last few bananas. I was transfixed. I couldn’t believe she was able to stretch her trunk so much.
Our elephants, tails swinging, set off and we trail them, led by guide Mr. Dao who walks us into the “elephant supermarket”, the 200 ha of riverside forest, filled with flitting butterflies, which MandaLao rents from local farmers. The pace is unhurried as the elephants seek out leaves, herbs, and bamboo, stripping the forest like untamed bulldozers. We pad softly over the leaf carpet, so the sound of the forest being ripped up by elephant trunks is intriguing and alarming.
Our group sticks to the path, stepping over elephant-sized prints planted in the mud, and piles of turd, but the elephants don’t give a damn about footpaths and wander all over the place farting and looking for their favorite snacks – a time-consuming business: elephants munch 250 kg of plants a day, drink 200 liters of water, and dump 90 kg of poo.
Herd matriarch Mahn stopped in her tracks and we watched her scratch the earth with her trunk, suck up the soil, shower herself with dust, then curl up her trunk like a snail shell to yank down a creeper. We’d call it multitasking, I guess.
At the end of our trek, we posed with the older females for pictures and boarded our boat back to basecamp. Over lunch of beef, vegetable curry, and fried spring rolls, we shared our favorite bits and pics from the walk.
Later I met Vogler to learn more about MandaLao’s particular pachyderm approach. MandaLao’s mahouts use the Human Elephant Learning Program, written by Dr. Andrew McLean, who channeled his equestrian expertise into elephants.
“Kit is the first baby raised in Laos that won’t go through the traditional breaking process of putting a three-year-old elephant in a ‘crush’ cage to break its spirit,” Vogler tells me. Kit sure looks happier and bouncier for it.
“The development process is similar to humans and Kit has six commands,” Vogler says. “He’s basically a 1200 kg toddler. One minute he is watching a butterfly, the next he is ripping up a forest.”
MandaLao’s ultimate goal is to get Kit, fathered by a wild bull, and other elephants in captivity back into the wild. MandaLao works with Prasop Tipprasert, founder of the pioneering Thai Elephant Conservation Center, and with the World Wildlife Fund in Laos, and is developing ideas including a potential new ecotourism product with the aim of ensuring a brighter future for Elephas maximus in Laos.
MORE INFO
MandaLao is located 15km outside of Luang Prabang, but you can make reservations at their office downtown.
See their website at mandalaotours.com for more details.
Text BY Claire Boobbyer
PHOTOGRAPHS BY Julia Zimmermann / Mandalao
