We sit with Kalamapijit on a balcony outside
her office, and she explains that when Western-
ers, especially Americans, stopped coming to
Maetaman, she eliminated one of the daily shows
to allot time for visitors to watch elephants bathe
in the river that runs through the camp.
“Westerners enjoy bathing because it looks
happy and natural,” she says. “But a Chinese tour
agency called me and said, ‘Why are you cutting
the show? Our customers love to see it, and they
don’t care about bathing at all.’ ” Providing sepa-
rate options is good for business, Kalamapijit says.
Around the world Kirsten and I watched tour-
ists watching captive animals. In Thailand we
also saw American men bear-hug tigers in Chi-
ang Mai and Chinese brides in wedding gowns
ride young elephants in the aqua surf on theday from nearby Maetaman—and that the two
attractions are actually a single business.
Meena was brought here once, but she triedto run into the forest. Another young elephant,
Mei, comes sometimes, but today she’s at Mae-
taman, playing the harmonica in the shows.
When she’s not doing that, or spending the day
at EcoValley, she’s chained near Meena in one
of Maetaman’s elephant stalls.
Meena Kalamapijit owns Maetaman as well asEcoValley, which she opened in November 2017
to cater to Westerners. She says her 56 elephants
are well cared for and that giving rides and per-
forming allow them to have necessary exercise.
And, she says, Meena the elephant’s behavior
has gotten better since her mahout started using
the spiked chain.
WILDLIFE TOURISM 61