Are you game becoming a Mahout? Take a course in Thailand

October 12, 2009

tags: Ecotourism, Elephant Sanctuary and Rescue Center, Elephants, Mahout

By Dian Hasan | October 12, 2009

Mahout Training for tourists-photo Anantara Golden Triangle

Mahout Training, excellent opportunity for tourists to get close and personal with elephants

We’ve all heard about dog whisperers. Cesar Millan‘s probably the most famous one, with this own TV show. And there are whisperers for other animals too, such as horses and elephants. And while it takes special innate talent and years of training to connect animals’ minds, if you’ve always dreamt of working with animals albeit for a brief period, and you are wild about traveling to exotic locales, there’s an opportunity to do just that. In Thailand.

An elephant whisperer is called a Mahout, an elephant’s keeper and driver. Popular across Thailand, India and other parts of Asia where elephants are found. The word derives from the Hindi words mahaut and mahavat, which in Sanskrit loosely translates to “one having great measure”. Hence, elephant whisperer.

The Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, North Thailand now offers tourists Mahout Course to learn more about elephants through direct one-on-one interaction. This unique experience ranges from 1 to 3 day course.

A sort of Mowgli (of Rudyard Kipling‘s Jungle Book fame) experience, where you get a chance to hang out with animals in the wild (well… pretty close).

The Mahout course aims to educate participants about interesting facts such as: