Skilled elephants perform tricks in Thailand
From Reuters today:
Thousands of tourists have flocked to Thailand’s Surin province to watch elephants show off their soccer and dart-throwing skills at an annual festival said to be the largest of its kind.
The show in Thailand’s elephant heartland has become one of the country’s biggest tourist drawcards since it began in 1960, with 11-aside elephant soccer traditionally the favourite event.
Surin province’s elephant handlers, or ‘mahouts’, have been known for centuries for their expertise in rounding up the animals to pull logs from the country’s lucrative forests.
But they were forced to turn to tourism for business and train their elephants to do tricks when the country banned logging in 1989.
I must make a point to visit Surin at some point. Has anyone been?
November 20th, 2007 at 11:23 am
See one of my recent blog entries for some pictures I took while in Surin last month.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:38 am
Yep, been there last year and that was great.
If you plan to go, make sure you arrive the day before the event (should be the friday night) as all elephants are gathering into Surin, the city becoming a giant Elephant ground for the night. I actually missed that and have to go back some time.
I put some photos of Surin and the show here:
http://www.twip.org/image-southeast-asia-thailand-surin-downtown-srinarong-stadium-en-8972-2278.html
November 21st, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Hope those elephants are better treated in Surin than they are in Bangkok.
It’s heartbreaking to see those poor elephants in Bangkok’s streets…