That Time You Rode an Elephant in India While Listening to the Call to Prayer

Yes, that's a bit of a strange title, but that's what I entitled a video that I uploaded on Facebook for my students so it makes some casual sense. On the last trip to India I had arranged for the students to ride elephants when we were in far northern India in Dudhwa as part of our visit to the tiger sanctuary (more on that later). Unfortunately, the female elephants were still in heat, so the elephants, both male and female, were a little unpredictable.  The decision was made to cancel it, which, although disappointing, was obviously the right decision. That said, I had been promising the students the elephant ride for months and I was determined not to let them down. So, I began conniving right away, the details of which I'll leave out. Through the heroic efforts of our friend and guide Santosh we were able to arrange a ride when we were in Jaipur in Rajasthan on the tail end of the trip. Truthfully, the students were a little hesitant to go on the ride, mainly because they had seen elephants chained to trees in Dudhwa and it bothered them. It led to some tough but beneficial discussions about how Americans view animals, whether they're pets or not, as compared to how the rest of the world views them, and the role that we may, unwittingly, be playing in their mistreatment (it's much the same discussion we have when we arrange to swim with dolphins in Zanzibar). In the end we always leave it up to the students. In the end, they checked out the place in Jaipur and felt comfortable with how the elephants were treated, and decided to take a short ride around town. Not surprisingly, they loved it. Like I said, I posted a video on Facebook which featured the ride, which was made more otherworldly by the fact that the call to prayer was being broadcast at that exact moment. It wasn't quite as epic as riding them in Dudhwa while we were looking for tigers, but I was able to keep my promise.

Harry and Nik taking off on their adventure. I was on the first elephant with Ashley, so I was able to grab this shot from way above ground level.

Hattie (doing her best Almost Famous impersonation) and Genevieve on their elephant.

Ines reaching down to pet her elephant while Olivia looks on.

John and Charlie returning to base.

Sally bonding with her, and I do mean her, elephant. I thought I was going to have to drag her out of the elephant compound, especially when she found out that you could also help bathe the elephants. I suspect that on next year's trip I'll turn around and she'll magically appear. 

And Olivia was equally happy with spending quality time with the elephants. I know how excited Olivia was about the trip, so I was not about to break my promise to her about the elephant ride.