Elephant

 I had a chance to stay with elephants for one week in Jaipur

It was one of the dream to touch elephant and stay close to them

I used to see elephants in the zoo over the fence and I wanted to get close  

I found that even if I become a zoo keeper in Japan, I cannot get close to elephants 

Japan is taking protected contact method 

and people and elephant cannot stay in the same space

Elephants were kind and clever

They were hard worker 

They had broad mind 

But they had mischievous nature 

And they were beautiful

I went to elephant village in Jaipur 

I woke up at 4 o'clock and helped mahout get ready for their work

Maybe I was not helpful but I spent happy time

Morning bath
Ranni wa playing with mahout

Washing her body
Ranni asked me to play with her and she kindly pushed me into the water
After a while, she said she wanted to swim and went to swim
Mahout called her but she kept swimming in the large pond
Mahout got angry and was totally confused but she looked really happy in the water 









In Jaipur, there are 108 elephants and
around 80 elephants live in elephant village, which was built by government
All of the elephants except three elephants are female
One family has one elephant which is own by elephant owner
Mahouts go to Amber fort with elephant to give ride for foreigners
One ride costs 900 Rp, 1/3 goes to government, 1/3 goes to owner. 1/3 goes to mahout

On the way to Amber fort 

I heard that elephant can work from 20 to  90 years old, for 70 years
But this elephant passed away the very next day that I took this photo
She was still young, nobody knows why she died

Morning bath, just before going to Amber fort 

Back view of Glave

Elephant Chapati 

Mahouts make chapati for elephants twice in a week

I made 21 chapati from 10kg of atta flour

Mohout gives 3 chapatis a day to one elephant as a snack 

Elephant likes it a lot 

Elephants in the evening 

I didn't know that elephant has nipple on same position as human

I wonder why elephants have different place from cows, horses and most of the animal

Mahout said it is because elephants are close to us 

I took this photo from second floor
She was curious what I was doing 








Besides going to Amber fort, elephants are chained for whole day
They don't have free but they didn't look miserable or sad
I have been learning animal welfare in the class in Japan
I don't know what is happy for animals
Mahouts spend most of their time with elephants, taking care of them
They can communicate well and I think they understand each other
Elephants are not the same as wild
But I don't think they are unhappy 

Elephant enjoying afternoon chai

Mahout said she loves chai and gave her a cup of chai

When Mahout asked to sit, Rani sat

When Mahout asked to give her leg, she raised her leg

Elephant has a broad and  clever mind

Bath
Even elephant can escape, they do not

I heard that all Mahout are Muslims

So they have goats, chickens and dogs in their house 

The chai I drunk there was little bit salty but tasted good

Many puppies were born at the family which lost their elephant
puppies and a little goat 

They were playing, sleeping for whole day