Mae Ping is smiling today, the borders are reopening!
After more 777 days of closed borders and without you, we can’t wait to welcome visitors again! Today we have hope, hope to start our project again as before, hope to exchange with you and hope to be able to reinstate our whole team.
Mae Ping is waiting for you, let everyone know that Laos is open again!
For vaccinated people only a certificate of vaccination is needed, for non vaccinated people an ATK test is asked 48hours before the departure.
D-Day is approaching
We are now into the final months before Mae Ping gives birth, which should be in August. Mae ping's udders didn't change much to begin with only slow changes every month but now we can see them changing almost before our very eyes. And you know what? She now has milk coming out of her udders, a strong indication that we are approaching the final months.
Art by Laurent Bonnet - @bonnet_lbo
Why the delivery can be very challenging ?
In the wild, a female elephant would learn how to be a mother by observing and by growing up with other mothers, watching as they give birth on a regular basis and observing how they look after a young calf.
Females in the wild assist one another during birth, especially the experienced ones. Once the calf is born, they will collectively help the mother to look after it. It has been observed within wild elephant herds, that difficult and reluctant mothers would be forced by the other elephants to stay still during delivery or reprimanded if she is undisciplined. This is why it’s important to be ready for any situation that could occur during the delivery.
Mae Ping's mother was sent to China while she was 11 years old and she has since been living in our sanctuary under a maternal figure Mae Kham , but has never experienced a pregnancy , delivery or a newborn calf anywhere in her surroundings. Which makes her completely unpredictable.
As Mae Kham has already given birth in the past, she will be guiding Mae Ping and Mae Bounma in this adventure. She is also the one who will calm them down, as it is normal for the mother to panic during her first delivery.
Next month, the mahouts will start sleeping by their side in the forest and keeping a 24hour watch on Mae Ping and be ready at any time if necessary.
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.