Final steps toward freedom
When we arrive in Mae Taeng we pass a group of elephants of a local trekking camp. There’s even a baby elephant walking next to her mother. They will have to make a lot more trekkings in the days to come, whereas our elephants are on their way to freedom. What a contrast! On the road there’s a whole group of volunteers welcoming us. The mahouts of the Elephant Nature Park run along our truck to show us the best spot to unload the elephants. The press has also arrived to film it all. Lek comes walking to me, and embraces me: You made it! Then the elephants are helped from the truck for the last time. From Mae Taeng we walk our final kilometers to the Elephant Nature Park. A nice walk of about 4 kilometres on a muddy road with lots of juicy leaves along it. 
This was what I had planned to do whole of our trip! But now it's become sort of a symbolic walk from the street to the jungle. Hopefully all the other elephants waiting for help will soon follow! Lek has arranged little elephant buffets along the road, bananaleaves with pineapples, bananas and melons on them. Sri Nuan seems to appreciate it, Silver Flower seems to be more interested in all the green leaves along the road. "From her eating you can tell that Sri Nuan has been a domesticated elephant all her life", Lek explains to the volunteers. "Silver Flower on the other hand, is a real jungle girl. Probably she has been taken from the wild and her papers have been forged."
Then we leave the mud road and we arrive at the Ping river.
Silver Flower and Sri Nuan have a drink and spray themselves with water. Now we are really walking through jungle. Sri Nuan takes her time to sniff at all the elephant dung she sees, and makes a deep rumbling sound to communicate with other elephants which she thinks might be close by. Her ears are standing wide to be able to hear as much as she can, and she keeps turning her head with her mouth wide open. Sri Nuan is already looking for contact with the other elephants.
Silver Flower meanwhile is grazing and just follows Sri Nuan. When we enter the park, the chains can finally be removed. With a group of people we are standing around Silver Flower: what an exciting symbolic moment. Then the chain drops and we cheer and Silver Flower cheers with us. She runs into the field, to catch up with Sri Nuan. Like this together we walk through the entrance gate of the Elephant Nature Park. All elephants of the park are gathered around the main hut.
There’s a munk waiting to bless Sri Nuan and Silver Flower and wishes them a good future in freedom. Soon a group of elephants are surrounding Silver Flower and Sri Nuan. Silver Flower seems to be a bit scared cause she stays close to Sri Nuan all the time. So nice to see the two have bonded so well by now.
It didn’t look this friendly during our ride to the park though. Sri Nuan pushed Silver Flower now and then with her short tusks, and now another wound is showing on Silver Flower’s head. But all this misfortune she has forgotten by now, Sri Nuan is her big protecting auntie. When another elephant comes sniffing at her, she quickly walks away.
Once in the field, 5 year old Hope walks up to the two newcomers. Silver Flower walks away again but Sri Nuan is meeting with him. First sniffing each others body and then putting trunks into each others mouths. Hope turns around so Sri Nuan can sniff at him from all sides. But everytime when Hope faces Sri Nuan with his back, Sri Nuan pushes him, and he turns around to meet her again. “Hope wants to acquint himself with her, but doesn’t know how to”, Lek explains. Then the elephants walk to the river to take a bath. Sri Nuan and Silver Flower walk along with them like they have been doing this for years. Lilly comes walking to Sri Nuan and the two start sniffing each other. Then they start to push each other harder and harder. Narong gets in between of them to protect his Sri Nuan. Fortunately the mahouts are able to stop this competition quickly, because it does look scary. What a power these animals have!
Then they go into the river. I throw some water over Silver Flower, which she seems to enjoy, and she starts spraying herself as well. I would love to just watch these two, but I have to do some interviews first. Channel 7 has come to shoot an item which will be aired this evening on national tv, and the filmcrew of Nature Conservation Films, is filming the entrance of the elephants in the park as well. When I’ve done all the interviews I realise that we made it: these two elephants are living in freedom now. The ever growing pressure on my shoulders is relieved. Oh yes, we’ve done it!
