the first elephant camp we stopped at was thom's, which seems to be the most famous one of the group [incidentally, also the most expensive. go figure.] even though we didn't end up riding their elephants, the lady was really nice and had the elephant hug me. and by hug i mean that i hid a banana behind a back while being pushed into the elephant's mouth so she was forced to reach around me to grope for the banana. she left a nice trail of snot across my shirt and person but what fun! this particular elephant is 50 years old [they can live to be 100] and had a stumpy tail because part of it had been bitten off by a male elephant. they don't keep male elephants anymore. the lady said they're on too much of an "ego trip" to be domesticated well. [yeah, and apparently they bite off tails!]
