Tunya and Bolouwan

This is Tunya & his elephant Bolouwan.

I do not want this photo to be deceiving. It is very important to understand that riding elephants is not something tourists should ever do.

There are tons of unethical elephant camps that allow anyone to come & ride elephants. For many hours of the day, elephants have different people riding on their back with saddles that hurt them. This is never okay.

I had the pleasure to work with elephants who have been reintegrated into the wild. Here, in the Northern mountains of Thailand, I have been introduced to a simple way of life I never knew existed. Tunya is a mahout. A mahout is there to care for the elephant or elephants. He spends hours of his day exploring the forest with Bolouwan. Not all mahouts ride their elephants. In fact, it is actually quite rare. Maybe once or once every 2 weeks Tunya will sit on the head on Bolouwan, for just a short amount of time. This does not harm Bolouwan in anyway because: there is no saddle, it is not on his spine, it is not all day everyday, & he trust Tunya. Trust is a major thing because Bolouwan is never scared, he even helps him up on to his head.

This photo is so powerful, but the relationship and story these two have with each other is even better.