Jaipur Elephants

Cameleer

This is one of my new friends in Jaipur. He is a 35 year old bull elephant that loves visitors because they give him all kinds of treats to eat. He does not like some of his handlers all that much because they are the ones who have to discipline him at times. I got to see this big guy throw one of the handlers about 15 feet through the air. Later on I think both me and this big guy agreed that the handler deserved it, although it took me about 4 or 5 days of seeing how some of the other elephants at the Amber Fort were treated to figure out what had brought this on.
Ok, now your wondering what brought this on. All I will say here is it had something to do with food.

I spent about 8 days around the elephants in Jaipur and the Amber fort. At the Amber fort the handlers were often buying me chai and lunch that we would eat on the floor of the elephant barn as elephants walked around us (I spent many hours sitting there). Two of them gave me some very old ankus (elephant hooks) and in the afternoon I usually got 2 or 3 offers for free elephant rides back into town.

At night we would set by a fire as chapati was being cooked up for us and their elephants. The elephant chapati as they called it is about an inch thick and the elephants got plenty of it along with grass and sugarcane.

Back in town I went on a few all day horse back rides at no charge, they were happy to have me help exercises them. On my last day there it was the kite festival and it was nice to look up from on the back of an elephant at all of the kites while ridding back into town. At the elephant house in town we went up on the roof with the kids and music playing loud. I had a fantastic time, and the views were amazing. To get to the higher part of the roof everyone had to walk along the top of a narrow 2 story wall, one slip and it would be by by forever.

When leaving them on this last night in Jaipur I was given gifts for my horses, things like headstalls, bridals, reins and a few other items. After 3 trips to India, I think I have more friends there than I do here.

seventies'hippy

Absolutely Brilliant,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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cyberhippie

For one of the most interesting characters here on IM cameleer gets my vote!!

robotvoice

agree with cyberhippie, just checked out your website cameleer. Very interesting... camel and zebra webcam, etc.

Sama

awesome! I just love elephants, they are so intelligent and so magnificent.

cameleer, do you know about the elephant sanctuary in Tennesse? it has elephant cams....

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Cameleer

I always take photos to show people me and my animals, this really helps in making friends and showing them where I’m from. This time I also took a lot of these tiger photos printed up 4X4 inches to hand out. This was a big hit and got me invited to a lot of homes and even had people honoring me with the bowing and touching my lower leg as I touch their heads.

Also this year at the Bikaner Camel Festival I was one of six judges for the Camel Dance Competition, Camel Decoration Competition, Fur Cutting Competition and Mr. Bikana Competition.
Then when the festival moved out to the Village Katariasar I was their Chief Guest for the camel racing and other events.

I have not seen that elephant webcam but will take a look.



This photo was taken at a friends place here in So. Cal. USA

Sama

hey, cameleer! next time I want to travel with you!

Cameleer

Elephant rides at the Amber Fort are Rs550 per person with part of the money going to an elephant help fund.

Only 2 tourist are allowed on an elephant for the ride up, and no tourist are allowed to ride back down.

The elephants only do 4 trips a day with a mandatory 30 min (which is usually much longer) rest in-between each trip.

The rides at the Amber Fort start around 8am, and early morning is the best time to go when there are dozens of elephant going up and down to the fort, if you don’t want to ride, walking along with them is a real thrill!

Male elephants are not allowed to give rides at the Amber Fort and the government pays the owners Rs300 a day to keep them at home. One of the problems is when male elephants are around, the females can act up.

On the road going up to the Amber Fort across from the Jal Mahal (Water Palace) there is usually a male elephant and some camels there you can ride and get your photos taken with. If your there around 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning you can often hitch a ride on one of the elephants going up to the fort.
At the end of the day (around 1 - 3 pm) when the elephants are headed back through here to Jaipur, I’ve been told you can ride one for Rs50. But don’t be surprised if they are asking Rs100 to Rs200. Just tell them you will pay Rs50 and see what happens, maybe you will have to pay more. If you have fun, give them a good tip.

Taking photos of the elephants along the road, if they want some money I’ve seen people give them Rs20. But if they stop and have the elephant salute and pose with you, it would be nice to give them more.

In Jaipur you can go on elephants safaris through town. A group of 4 people can expect to pay around Rs2,000.

It cost Rs200 to Rs300 per day to feed an elephant.

For 10,000 USD you could buy one of the best elephants there.

If you don’t support them, they don’t make money and it’s the elephants that suffer!

A few last things, elephants are big so keep safely away and only approach when told it’s ok. Also be alert and aware of your soundings, have a safe way out, don’t get cornered or boxed in between them.

crvlvr

When I visited a year ahgo, all the elephant rides were sold out. I guess there is no problem with the support. BTW, the restrictions around the number of trips/passengers etc went into place after an elphant killed a mahout and some tourists.

BTW, I disagree somewhat with your assessment in your OP. An elephant cannot be bullied around by anyone. the only way mahouts control them are by establishing a long term relationship based on trust and friendship. People in India have been doing this for centuries. Many of the elephants are getting agitated by the tourists and mahouts, who make the elephant do things to please the tourist for tips.

PeakXV

I think I passed you on the way up to the fort Cameleer!

Rupa was our Elly -- Giddya up Horsee.

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

ranjan154

Hey i liked your website and buying elephants is banned and gone are the Maharaja days ..

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Cameleer

Yes I do know about the handler that got killed and two tourists that were heart. It was a visually-impaired elephant irritation at a camera flash from two Belgian tourists as the handler was also trying to move the elephant for a better photo.

If you think elephants cannot be bullied around anymore, maybe someone should inform some of the handlers.(some people don’t have what it takes to be animal handlers) I saw 3 elephant beatings, 2 of them were very bad and lasting around 20 min. They were beating them into submission and for a very trivial thing.
I don’t think there are too many qualified animal handlers on this forum and I’m not going to discuss it anymore! I will be sending a report to Help N Suffering and see where it goes from there.

Just one last thing, most of what I saw was good. But there’s always room for improvement! And think about how the animals were treated 50 to 100 years ago where you live?

If you really want some info about what’s going on with the elephants in India, check out the Elephant News:
http://www.elephant-news.com/

Here is their page about India elephants:
http://www.elephant-news.com/index.php?country=India

MissTee

Hi all,
if your into animals in India, there is a great book to read. Its called " Christines Ark" by John Little. Its about an Australian lady, Christine Townend and the work she does at an Indian animal shelter in Jaipur. Im half way through it and enjoying it.

Cameleer

Very possible that you did. On this last trip I was on that road a lot where I rode 2 camels, 6 elephants and 2 horses.
I never did ride an elephant up to the Amber Fort, it was more fun walking along with them!

Here’s an interesting video of a elephant playing ball:
http://www.goyk.com/video.asp?path=1329&lp=563

crvlvr

Bullying elephants will only last so long, before the the handlers get what they deserve back from the elephant. I am sure there are a few rotten apples.

Animals may have beaten 50-100 years ago here in the US, now they are just euthanized to the tune of 3-4 million each year. I wonder which is less of the two evils.

About your comments on "trained animal handlers", you may have heard about the Dog Whisperer (Cesar Milan) a man with no training who does a wonderful job training dogs. Ofcourse he is being criticized by the trained professionals

I don't subscribe that one has to be qualified animal trainer in order to train animals. How long have we had qualified animal trainers? Men have been domesticating animals for thousands of years. Expecting the rest of the world to meet some arbitary (western?) standards is, IMHO, a little unreasonable.