— Mae Kham Paan —
Mae Kham Paan's name means "one thousand gold." She was born sometime between 1935 and 1945. Mae Kham Paan was rescued and started her official retirement at Elephant Nature Park in mid-June of 2009. The majority of the funds for her purchase came from 2 anonymous donors, with extra funds for her care coming from 2 volunteers from Singapore.
Mae Kham Paan spent the first half of her life working as a logging elephant, but then in 1989 logging was banned in Thailand and Mae Kham Paan began her career working in tourism and trekking camps. She was bought and sold numerous times and moved from the North to the South of Thailand working at various places. Finally, she had made it back to Northern Thailand once again and was working in Phrae as an illegal logging elephant. By this time she getting old and her last set of teeth were quite worn out. It wasn't easy for her to absorb much nutrition from her food as she couldn't grind it down fine enough, and she started to lose weight, muscle tone and energy. Logging is quite strenuous work and she burned every calorie that she took in. Soon Mae Kham Paan was suffering from exhaustion and could no longer be used for logging.
Extremely thin, she was sold yet again to a small trekking camp, but when the new owners put the trekking seat on her back, Mae Kham Paan refused to move even one step. She was too old, too weak and too tired. It was as if she had firmly decided that her working days were over. Thankfully, the owners could see that the best thing to do with her was to sell. Thankfully, too, they knew of Elephant Nature Park and that Lek was happy to buy old elephants in need of retirement. After a short negotiation, Mae Kham Paan began her new life of rest and recreation.
Mae Kham Paan is tall, slender and stately. Upon arrival she was just skin and bones, no muscle tone at all. She is steadily gaining weight, but it is a slow process due to the condition of her teeth. Despite a lifetime of hard work, Mae Kham Paan has somehow made it to this point without much scarring or injury. She has full flexibility in her wrist joints and her ankle joints are strong, she can move faster than some elephants much younger than her. She is becoming more healthy and robust every day, gaining weight and muscle tone, enjoying her new easygoing lifestyle at Elephant Nature Park.
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 |
