Click here to link to Made by Niki lingerie

Click here to link to Made by Niki lingerie.

Sunday Telegraph, p1, 13.07.05

Click here to link to Made by Niki lingerie.

Sunday Telegraph, p2, 13.07.05

Saving Jumbo, Sunday Telegraph p1, 13.07.2005

Niki McMorrough visits India and Thailand to see how elephant tourism is giving these great beasts a new lease of life - and helping reverse a worrying decline in their number.(Filed: 13/07/2005)

"Parp," said Wanali the elephant, tackling the 20lb of sugar cane I had brought for her. "Pheep." This was our usual early-morning conversation. I already knew her next moves - she'd be unruly as I rode her in from the forest and then ignore me until I give her the first bath of the day. After a second breakfast, she'd do anything I asked - sit down, stand up, roll over. Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

After a long history of hauling logs, transporting royals and braving battles, many Asian elephants are enjoying a career change, and a new wave of "elephant tourism" now lets elephant aficionados encounter the animals, be they wild or tame, individuals or herds, in a variety of ways.

There are not many elephants left. Tame ones and their lifelong mahouts, or trainers, have to be entrepreneurial to survive. Wild herds will become extinct if left unprotected, both in Asia and Africa. Ironically, when logging and sawmills became illegal in 1989, the law that was meant to protect their forest environment destroyed many - they became unemployed and unable to support their vast appetite. Some went freelance, others were employed by elephant camps, and some ended up in hospital. The wild elephant population of Asia has dwindled so much that efforts now have to be made to sustain it. Money to repopulate the herds is most likely to come from tourism.

Elephants can be found in streets and temples all over Asia and the sub-continent. My first encounter was with Lakshmi, the temple elephant in Hampi, southern India. I queued and paid a rupee to be touched gently by her trunk, regarded as a holy blessing - though it gave me the giggles. Later that month, I met Ganesh, the roving equivalent, sticking his nose into people's businesses in Madurai, and blessing them through their open doorways. Pilgrims shuffling down the street bowed before him, offering his favourite snack - whole cabbages. I felt it wise to avoid walking behind.

Sadly, it's also common to find the animals being exploited. I wanted to give a piece of my mind to the cruel whip-crackers forcing poor, crippled Krishna through Madurai's holy temple. I heard here that some elephants are given drugs - to which they can become addicted - to make them work harder. Instead, I bit my lip and reported the event to the Friends of the Asian Elephant (FAE) hospital.

Upon visiting the Mae Sa elephant camp in Thailand, I met the talented Wanpen, who has been painting (yes, painting) with wistful concentration for more than six years. Though she began with abstract and impressionistic work, she is now entering her "realist" phase and apparently prefers to create images of trees and flowers. She is the star pupil of the not-for-profit Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project (AEACP), which showcases artistic elephants from Cambodia, India, Thailand, Bali and Borbudur. Their work has been exhibited in Sydney, Venice and the US and has sold for up to £20,000 a piece, though some works can be snapped up for as little as £20.

After Wanpen had shown us her talents, she primly picked up her paint box and walked away. In trooped her colleagues, who are pretty nifty at football, for a game of sudden death with a difference. Each player had five legs (if you included their noses), the ball was extra large, and the reward was sugar cane rather than a trophy. The elephants seemed to be happy, getting some exercise and doing their job all at once. Circus-like? Perhaps, but the elephants were clean, well-fed and remained in close contact with their mums and aunties, as nature intended.

Continuing my elephant infatuation, I moved into the homestay at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC), in Lampang, where there is a mahout training school. I collected my "uniform" and learnt a few Thai words that would allegedly make me the master of my steed. With visions of Barbara Woodhouse, I barked "Geb Bone" and "Tag Leung", but didn't for a minute think my elephant would "pass me" things or "bow down" before me.

I didn't get along with my first elephant, Hantawan, who was old, slow and not at all frisky. Amid all the shouting of instructions from the other trainees at their elephants, Hantawan remained mostly motionless and calm. I multi-tasked, tipping a couple of pounds of sunflower seeds into her trunk while munching on a pineapple, gripping her temples with my knees and holding down a conversation with an American woman. She actually owned an elephant, and was on her third visit of the year. When Hantawan eventually sat down and refused to move (due to indigestion, I was told), the American advised, "you should ask them to let you ride Wanali. She's the cutest. She likes to have her tongue tickled and she's the princess's elephant."

Young Wanali was covered in prickly hair and was extra-spiky in the mornings, but I soon got used to it. At first I was thrown by her swerving and speed-walking as I rode her from the forest to the camp for breakfast. Nor did she give much warning before plunging into the lake for a dip, and I was soaked through when she bobbed her whole head, with me on top, under the green gloop. As I tried to steer her out, I remembered the advice of my friend, David: "You steer by sticking your toes in their ears; but be careful, you could lose a shoe in there."
Wanali was the cleanest elephant in the camp. This was because she dunked herself (and me) four times daily, leaving me so chilly that my hands were as blue as my mahout overalls. I finally got the knack of avoiding a dip, shuffling backwards and forwards as she submerged different body parts in turn.

To warm myself up, I strolled along to the FAE elephant hospital, founded by Soraida Salwala, who, at the age of eight, had come across Uncle Elephant dying in the road because of a hit-and-run truck. The hospital is not for the faint-hearted - you should see the size of the syringes and bandages. Motala, a landmine survivor who'd had her front paw blown off, was swaying sorrowfully from side to side. Other animals tumble into city manholes, and many, inevitably, suffer from the gunshots of illegal hunters. It's not all bad news, though: incredible care - and a lot of money - has seen 900 injured elephants from the hospital returned home or admitted to elephant camps.

To help with their huge living expenses, elephants literally print their own money. At one point at the TECC, I found myself up to my elbows in elephant excrement, which is cleaned, mixed with fabric conditioner and turned into fancy paper that sells for 75 baht (£1) per sheet. Elephants chomp 330lb of vegetation per day, so that's a lot of potential paper.

Elephants are not the only victims. In Laos, where there are fewer than 1,000 elephants, Mr Bounthanom, of Ban Na, near Vientiane, told me how "our villagers were going hungry after a herd of 30 elephants savaged their sugar-cane crops. People were afraid to go into the forest to collect food and gather bamboo for their basket-weaving industry. Animosity developed towards the elephants and people began poaching them for their tusks and toenails." Klaus Schwettman, director of the National Tourist Association in Vientiane, came to the rescue with a Unesco-funded operation designed to help people and animals co-exist, and to use elephant eco-tourism to compensate their income loss and discourage the hunters.

I was excited to be among the first to sleep with wild elephants at the recently opened Elephant Observation Tower. Expecting a rickety, roofless bamboo platform, we found a towering "house" on 30ft concrete stilts with solar power and an ensuite loo. After dinner and a sunset amble, we settled down for the evening as the forest began to hum with life. Eerie hooting skimmed across the bamboo treetops, and in the distance came the sound of timber snapping and splintering. Then I heard trumpeting - and again, minutes later, though much closer. The elephants were heading our way. A lone bull, among others, arrived and lay down to a night of loud snoring, interspersed with bouts of huffing and splashing in the water hole.

I never thought it would be possible to get so close to such magnificient animals. Some would have you believe they are best left alone, but I think those people are probably wrong. Humans have caused elephants' decline, and though we bridle at finding them in captivity, there are so few left in the wild that we need to support entrepreneurial and other well-chosen efforts that allow them to survive.

The enterprises I saw in India, Laos and Thailand may not be perfect, but they are preferable to zoos, starvation or hunting. And with elephant tourism and the money it generates, you can make a difference: visiting elephant hospitals or orphanages, tattling on nasty profiteers, buying elephant art, training as a mahout, adopting an elephant or just visiting them on your travels. If you don't make friends with an elephant now, it may soon be too late.

Tourists get to see a new side to elephants

Where to go with the herd

A mahout course in Thailand
This three-day course teaches you how to bathe, care for and "drive" an elephant. Guests stay in the luxurious Anantara Resort, which also offers spa treatments, Thai cookery lessons and excursions to the "Golden Triangle" region.
Five nights' b&b at the resort costs from £995 per person based on two people sharing, including flights and private transfers. The course is an extra £200 per person.
Book through Audley Travel (01869 276200; www.audleytravel.com).

Elephant orphans
This 14-day Sri Lankan tour includes an elephant safari through the rainforest, a visit to the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage - where guests can feed baby elephants - and opportunities to see elephants in their natural habitat. Other highlights include a visit to the turtle hatchery at Bentota, two nights in the rainforest of Sinharaja National Park and a couple of days relaxing on the beaches of Unawatuna.
Trips coinciding with the Kandy Esala Perahera (10 days in July and/or August) can take in the festival's parade, which includes decorated elephants.
The price of £1,200 per person (£1,025 for children) includes flights, all transportation, 13 nights' accommodation in either hotels or tented rainforest camps, some meals and a tour leader. Book through Explore (08703 334001; www.explore.co.uk).

South African safari camp Jabulani is located in the Kapama Private Game Reserve on the edge of the Kruger National Park. During a week's stay at the resort, guests are assigned their own elephant (the camp has 13) and assist in feeding and looking after them. Daily game drives on the back of the elephants provide a closer insight into the lives of the animals and the reserve's other wildlife.
One week's stay costs from £3,998 per person with Exsus (020 7292 5050; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.exsus.com/), including flights and meals.

Elephants in Zambia and Botswana
The first three nights of this tour are spent at the Royal Livingstone hotel, on the banks of the Zambezi, where activities include a half-day elephant-back safari. Guests then travel to Muchenje Safari Lodge in Chobe National Park (renowned for its vast elephant population), where game drives allow guests to see these creatures in their natural habitat. A further three nights are spent at Stanley's Camp in the heart of the Okavango Delta, where guests have a morning walking, feeding and learning about the three resident elephants.
A nine-night tailor-made tour costs from £2,986 per person with Okavango Tours and Safaris (020 8343 3283; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.okavango.com/). The price includes international and internal flights, transfers, b&b at the Royal Livingstone and full board in the other camps.

Himalayan stables
A 17-day escorted trip to northern India and the Himalayan foothills includes time in the Corbett National Park, where elephant-back safaris go in search of the park's leopard, tiger and wild elephant herds. Accommodation at Dhikala, at the heart of the park, allows visitors to view feeding, washing and other aspects of elephant care.
Book through Naturetrek (01962 733051; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.naturetrek.co.uk/). The cost is £1,995, including full board, flights and excursions.

Journey to Nepal
This 10-day escorted group tour begins in Kathmandu, moving to an elephant-back safari through the Chitwan National Park - also home to rhinoceros and Bengal tigers - and visits to elephant stables to learn about the animals. Other highlights include a morning walk to the World Peace Stupa, which offers fine views over Pokhara, and a visit to medieval Patan, a city renowned for its Hindu temples and Buddhist monuments.
The tour costs from £995 per person with Cox&Kings (020 7873 5000; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.coxandkings.co.uk/), including flights, b&b, some other meals, guided excursions and transfers.

Kenyan game drive
See African elephants during game drives in the Masai Mara on this five-day "Thorn Tree Safari", along with mountain and lake visits to the Aberdares and Lake Naivasha.
Book through Somak (020 8423 3000; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.somak.co.uk/); the safari departing on August 26 costs from £1,119 per person, including full board, entry to game parks and return flights.

Malaria-free safari
See the world's southernmost elephants in South Africa's Knysna Elephant Park - with the bonus of a malaria-free environment - as part of an escorted small-group nine-day "Magic of the Cape" or 14-day "Mellow Cape" self-drive trip.
Both tours can be booked through Cedarberg African Travel (020 8941 1717; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.cedarbergtravel.com/) from £1,760 and £1,570 per person respectively, including flights, b&b and some other meals.

Swimming with elephants
Barefoot at Havelock is a small, family-owned resort with thatched cottagestyle accommodation on Havelock Island, one of the Andaman&Nicobar Islands off the east coast of India. Among other things, the resort offers the chance to join the well-cared-for local elephant as he takes to the water for a cooling swim on hot afternoons.
A week's b&b at the resort can be booked through TransIndus (020 8566 2729; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.transindus.co.uk/) and costs from £1,380, including all flights and transfers.

Volunteer in Thailand
This conservation project allows volunteers to participate in caring for Asian elephants that have been domesticated and/or exploited and abused. Volunteers stay in the sanctuary - about 100 miles south-west of Bangkok - and learn about elephants through daily care, riding, bathing, feeding and assisting with treatments.
A three-week stay at the sanctuary costs £573, with simple accommodation and lunch and dinner provided by a Thai cook. The price excludes flights and transfers from Bangkok. Book through Wildwings (01179 658333; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.ecovolunteer.org.uk/).

Getting there
Audley Travel (01869 276200; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.audleytravel.com/) and Scott Dunn (020 8682 5060; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.scottdunn.com/) offer tailor-made trips. For independent travel, contact Exotissimo (00662 636 0360; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.exotissimo.com/) in Thailand and Green Discovery Travel (00856 21 223022; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.greendiscoverylaos.com/) in Laos.

Mahout Training at TECC in Lampang costs £68 for a two-night night stay, including accommodation, training, meals and uniform. To make a reservation, visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.changthai.com/, go directly to the centre or contact Exotissimo.
For more information contact the National Elephant Institute (0066 54 228108; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.thailandelephant.org/). Sleeping in the Elephant Observation Tower costs £11 per person (00856 20 2208262 or 5509086; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.trekkingcentrallaos.com/). Green Discovery Travel also offers organised trips for £70.

Further information
To make a donation visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.elephant.tnet.co.th/index_21.1.html. Elephants can be bought for about £40,800 and donated to a camp or adopted from £2 a month (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.adoption.co.uk/). Other elephant-related websites include http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/splash.php, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.friendsofanimals.org/, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.save-the-elephants.org/ and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/exit.jhtml?exit=http://www.worldwildlife.org/.

Sunday Telegraph, p1, 23.01.05

Sunday Telegraph, Page 2 top, 23.01.05

Sunday Telegraph, p2 bottom, 23.01.05