42Although it may feel as though
it is tailormade for tourists, the Surin
Elephant Roundup is a cultural window
into man’s longstanding association
with elephants in the northeastern
province of Thailand, with its roots in
the Ayutthaya era (14th–18th century),
when elephant hunts were showcased
as a public event. Back then, people
would gather to witness the hunters
returning from the jungle, using their
traditional methods to corral wild
elephants toward an enclosure known
as a kraal.
Over time, the spectacle became
more of a staged re-enactment of the
hunt, and by the 20th century, trained
elephants were incorporated into the
exhibition, which was primarily put on
for the entertainment of royal guests.
Among the most famous visitors
was Russian prince Nicholas II, who
attended in 1891.
The roundups lost their royal
patronage in 1938, and it wasn’t until
the 1960s that it was revived as an
annual festival in Surin. This region is
home to many of Thailand’s Kui people,
an ethnic minority whose identity
is closely intertwined with elephant
hunting. During the Ayutthaya
period, the Kui caught an average
of 25 elephants annually during the
monsoon season, in the forests along
the Cambodian border.
The Kui traditionally made
their living capturing and training
wild elephants from the jungle for
onward use in war, heavy labour
and transportation. But with logging
banned in 1989, the role of elephants
shifted to meet tourist interest. Today,
the festival is still a nod to the region’s
elephant heritage, with re-enactments
of preparations for and participation
in a hunt, but it also incorporatestrained elephants who perform tricks,
compete in a tug of war, and play
football to a stadium of cheering Thai
students and foreign tourists.
Before the festival officially kicks
off, preparations are made in Ban Tha
Klang, a small village 60 kilometres
from Surin that is home to hundreds
of Kui families. Men are chosen to
perform in the roundup and set off with
a convoy of mahouts, who herd their
elephants to Surin to set up camp,
train, and offer tourists elephant rides
and the chance to get up close and
personal with the animals.
On the Friday morning during the
third week of November, the festival
officially kicks off with nearly 300
elephants carrying dignitaries and
mahouts from the railway station
through the streets of Surin to the
elephant tusk roundabout on Prasat
Road, where a banquet of food