— Jampaa —
Mae Jampaa's name is of Hindu origin and means "magnolia." She was born in 1961 in the village of Ma Bpae Sanpatong in Chiang Mai province. She arrived at Elephant Nature Park on December 22, 2009. The funds for her rescue were provided by Darrick Thomson in honor of his father Lorne Thomson.
Mae Jampaa began her life of leisure at only 48 years old. She is lucky to be starting an early retirement, thanks to a caring owner.
When Jampaa was around three to four years old, she was owned by a Karen hilltribe man called Patti (uncle) Lu Jae who put the young Jampaa through the Phajaan breaking ceremony - a traumatizing and ritualistic way of breaking an elephant's spirit and breaking the bond between mother and baby that is common in this region. Patti worked the elephants he owned in the logging industry. At seven years old Jampaa was sold to a Mr. Phu Kham and her new owner walked her from Chiang Mai to Lampang never using any main roads, only travelling on jungle trails. Here Jampaa went to a logging camp and trained for one year to do light labor jobs that were considered appropriate for young elephants in her age range.
Around this time Mr. Phu Kham's son Yod came into Jampaa's life. He was also born in 1961, so was the same age as Jampaa. As they both grew older and entered into their early teens, Yod started training to be mahout (or kwan chaang) for Jampaa and from that time on, until she arrived at Elephant Nature Park, they were mostly together. Jampaa spent the 1970's working as a pack elephant and trained to work in harness and drag logs for a logging company. It wasn't until the early 1980's that she was old enough to actually do any work skidding logs, but Jampaa had obviously been busy with other activities as she gave birth to a bull calf in 1983. She was given six months off work to rest after her baby was born. Because of the risk to her new calf, her owner ceased working her in logging and moved her to a Karen owned trekking camp in Chiang Rai where she gave rides to tourists for the next three years. The baby was allowed to stay with her during this period, but after this, both Mae Jampaa and her baby were taken back to Lampang so the young bull could start his "training". After Phajaan, Yod's brother was given ownership of the little male and took him off to work and later he was sold.
Mae Jampaa (she had earned the "Mae" or mother title since she had given birth to her first baby) worked in Lampang in the trekking and transport industry until 1992 when she was transferred to work in Chiang Dao at Baan Pah Lai trekking camp. By 1995 she was back home working "illegal" logging - but nothing over exploitive, just doing light labor for a local village, dragging logs for small building projects. In 1999 she was back to work in Chiang Dao again, this time at Baan Dtap Dtua, where she worked for the next four years. In 2003 Mae Jampaa started working at Maetamman elephant camp, right down the road from Elephant Nature Park, until she was given her retirement and came to stay at the Park permanently.
At some point in Jampaa's life she lost her right eye, but the exact circumstances of how this happened were never explained. Most likely the injury occurred during her years employed in the logging industry, but we may never know for sure.
For the past three years, Jampaa's owner Khun Yod has been asking Lek to buy her. His father bought her originally, but Khun Yod has known her since she was eight years old and has been her mahout for most of that time as well. As Khun Yod got older, he took on more responsibility in his village and was asked to be the headman, which would be a full time job. If he took this job he could not continue to be Jampaa's mahout and if he gave the job of mahouting her over to someone else, he wouldn't have the time to monitor the way she was being treated. Khun Yod just didn't feel comfortable with this.
Jampaa, being a healthy elephant with a nice temperament, caught many perspective buyers attention and her owner had many offers to sell her over the past three years, all of which he refused. Khun Yod didn't want her to go work as a street begging elephant, and as he knew the trekking industry he really didn't want her in that line of work either.
When Khun Yod first approached Lek three years ago to sell Jampaa, his asking price was quite high. Lek wasn't interested in buying her as she felt that Jampaa being healthy and loved, didn't really need rescuing. As the years passed, her owner persisted. Khun Yod loved the atmosphere of Elephant Nature Park and the lifestyle that the elephants enjoyed here. He kept stopping by, the price went down and finally, the time was right.
Darrick Thomson, a true champion for animals who is known and loved by all here at the Park, wanted to rescue an elephant in honor of his father. He had already rescued Mintra back in the beginning of 2009 in honor of his mother, so he couldn't leave dad out! Jampaa is also the same age as Darrick and she comes from a very unique situation (that is sadly not common in the captive working elephant world). Since her owner really loved her and wanted to make sure that if he could not continue to keep her that she would have a good life, neither Jampaa nor her owner, Khun Yod could be turned down.
Jampaa has joined the young and socially outgoing Mintra and the shy Mae Dta Keow and they have formed a happy trio that often becomes a quartet when Malai Tong joins them. Jampaa settled right in and fits in perfectly with her new girlfriends, getting along with Mae Dta Keow and enjoying the lively Mintra (who although the youngest, is definitely the "leader" of their pack).
To learn more about the histories and personalities of our elephants, please click on any of the links below.
— Gone But Not Forgotten —
Sadly, some elephants come to the Park not as permanent members of our herd, but only as temporary guests. We do all that we can in order to purchase them from their owners so that they never have to leave, but in some cases we are not successful. These elephants have been taken back by their owners and are sorely missed.
 Mae Boon and Aura |  Mae Elu |  Mae Toh Koh and Pupia |
 Phu Pa |
— In Loving Memory —
These beloved members of our herd have passed away, but they will live forever in our hearts and minds.
 Boon Khum (BK) |  Khum Min |  Lilly |
 Mae Bia |  Mae Mai |  Maximus (Max) |
 RaRa |  Ratree |  Somboon |
