My Elephant Trip — Attraction in Jaipur Municipal Corporation

#day12 continues: DISCLAIMER: This post is a truthful recollection of my experience and also my personal opinion, and I have also decided against sharing the pictures of myself and the elephants. I was super excited to go to the Elephant Village with Melissa. Situated in the Raja Art Farm, near Nai Mata Ka Mandir in Jaipur, we arrived at an encampment and was greeted by a very enthusiastic "volunteer" of the organization. I listened with half an ear to what he was telling us, but honestly, I couldn't keep my eyes away from the 2 elephants standing just a few meters away from us. Here I am, sitting on a comfortable stool being offered Chai and water (still sweaty after the monkey temple expedition) and realizing that we should NOT be here, but yet I am curious to get close to these majestic creatures. A mistake that I will come to regret immediately. Melissa and I were very concerned about the welfare of the animals, and we kept asking this volunteer (whose name I cannot remember) if they allow the tourists to ride them. We were assured not, as we would have left right there and then. I knew that this was not going to be a freebie, and when I asked the question of money, the volunteer kept telling me “Let me finish talking and tell you about the elephants and what we do here”. I understand this tactic he used. First entice me about the wonders of these animals, the “great work they are doing here” and the benefits we will be providing the elephants by just being present for the day. And then we can talk money. Skeptical? Absolutely. Melissa and I again asked about the activities and was then met with contradicting stories that just didn't tie up and made us believe that we are in the middle of a huge lie and possibly a scam. A scam on western tourists that happens all the time in India and which is hidden behind the sweet talk stories they tell us in order for us to pay for “lifetime experiences”. But I did want to continue and this is where I will admit that I am part of the problem, and for that, I am utterly sorry. I should have told these people to go screw themselves and take Melissa and leave. But I stayed. After confronting the young guy that his stories doesn’t tie up, he immediately called the Mahut of the village. A Mahut is the caretaker of the elephants, the “Elephant Father” as he calls himself. He explained to us that nothing that will cause the elephants to harm will be allowed in his village and then took his pen and notebook and broke down the activities and their prices. The full package includes an introduction, feeding, painting, safari of either 15, 30 or 45 minutes and washing. All of this for Rs5000, roughly R1000 plus. Now 5000 rupees is a lot for a person that just quit her job, took all her savings and plan to live in India for the next 6 months, and I was surprised as to how easily this turned out to be a transaction instead of a great experience. I ended up paying Rs1500 (around R300) for just the introduction and the feeding and Melissa...

We arrived in the village through our TukTuk Atan driver, I told him that I wanted to meet the elephants, but my priority was to go somewhere where they were treated well. Relying on what they've been told us, Nena and Mataji have been rescued from circuses, and the money that we paid to feed them returns in food and things to the elephants. Their diet varied among fruits, sugar cane, breads, plants, etc. They told us that each elephant eats 250 to 300 kilos of food per day. When we arrived they put us up to sit and offered us tea and water until one of the staff came to talk to us. They explain well about elephants and how we should behave with them, where we can or can not touch, tell us how to feed, the gestation of an elephant, etc. For one side is good, but on the other is a long and tiring, enveloped speech. He starts talking about the activities and I had to interrupt him and make it clear that I would only like to feed the elephants and that I did not agree to paint or ride on the elephant, even he claiming that elephants feel ticklish when they paint them, but in my opinion they look more like clowns. The prices I don't think is fix. I think they dicide at the moment they talk with you. Because he right the activists on the note and write the prices. If you do more then one the price have a kind of discount. Anyway, I did not have the opportunity to see the whole space but it seemed to be a good place. Seen by google satellite maps there'snt no lake where they can bathe and cool off from the heat, but there are trees and a roof where elephants stay to have contact with visitors. The people who helped us with the elephants call themselves "volunteers" and in the end they asked for tip for us. Apparently the elephants are treated well, but I did not see the the place like a sanctuary. Elephants are not as free to do as they want. They stop to get in touch with the visitors, maybe that's a bit stressful for them. When it was our turn, we were only directed to have contact with Nena, because Mataji was not in a good mood, I noticed she looked a bit tired. During our conversation while we were seated my boyfriend said he saw Mataji pushing one of the visitors but it was nothing serious. They also explained that male elephants are not put in contact with visitors because they are usually more aggressive. I will not be hypocritical because I really enjoyed having the contact with the elephants. Feeding the elephants was amazing experience, I was very happy about it. Seen from close they are much larger than I imagined. But if I were to do it again I would do it in a sanctuary where they are free, an open field with a lake for them and not where they would have to stay in the same place stopped to interact with the visitors. The place is not bad, but there are many things to improve. Perhaps replacing the activities of painting and riding with others that are better for the animals and improving the place...

Our tuktuk driver for the day brought us here and handed us over to a 'volunteer' who sold us a nice story about how they look after the elephants and how much it costs to feed them. He also explained that first you have an introduction and feeding time to gain the elephant's trust, before having a short ride followed by painting and washing the animals.

After being told what the prices were, we managed to haggle down because they were not only extortionate but there was no way we could pay that much.

Anyway, we decided to splash out as this would be a once in a lifetime experience. We were taken to see the elephants straight away, and within a couple of minutes we were ushered to climb onto the elephant's back by holding onto it's ears and stepping on its trunk... already I feel like the nice story from the start was just that - just a nice story.

The elephant was then made to walk in a circle no further than 10m before we got off and were able to give it some food. We spent some time just admiring the animals close up before they made the elephants pose for photos.

The elephant drivers didn't seem to really care about the elephants. One of them was poking a key into its skin, and kept shouting at it to stand still.

After promising that card payments were available, they said it wasn't working, so we had to go to an ATM. The manager of the place followed us and took the money. Who knows whether any of it made it to help the animals or not.

I left with a feeling of having being scammed and not actually having helped an elephant in...