ESCHEWING THE PERMANENT BASE CAMPS, CARL DUNCAN JOURNEYS DEEP INTO THE BAGO MOUNTAINS OF BURMA WHERE HIGHLY TRAINED ELEPHANTS CONTINUE TO HAUL WILD TEAK FROM THE JUNGLE
THE JUNGLE IS STILL COOL THIS FEBRUARY MORNING AS Maung Soe and I follow an elephant path winding among immense bamboo, hanging vines, leafy creepers and thin-barked teak.
Where the path drops down a steep ravine, I catch my flrst glimpse of the elephants at work. Four of them at the bottom, shifting hand-sawn logs in the boggy mire left by last season’s monsoons.
The big bull emerges first. He climbs, steady and strong, dragging a thousand kilos of teak behind him. Near the top, just a few feet below me, he slows then drops to his knees. He digs his tusks into the dirt. I imagine he’s resting. But I’m wrong. When he lifts his head and trumpets, the roar is deafening.
“So sorry, sir!” says the oozie (mahout) sitting patiently atop the beast. “My elephant is afraid of you. He will not move.”
I quickly back off and join my guide who has prudently remained out of the way. The oozie gives us a wide smile as he and his mount plod past. I tell Maung Soe I want to climb down for a closer look at the others.
He is not tempted. “You may go. But be careful!” he cautions. “The elephants are powerful and the teak logs very heavy.” Dropping down, wishing I had hiking boots instead of sports sandals, I’m fearing snakes more than elephants. But when will I have such a chance again? Teak elephants at work in the jungles of Burma! I might as well be dropping through a time warp with Doctor Who…
I am in the foothills of the Bago Mountains, midway between Yangon (Rangoon) and Mandalay, about 50km east of the Irrawaddy River. Basically the middle of nowhere.
In this living museum of a country, where the clockwork of time rusted to a stop somewhere between the mid 19th and mid 20th centuries, forests rich with teak still cover nearly a third of the landscape. And here, uniquely suited to the terrain and trained to the task, Asian elephants continue to haul teak from the jungle just as in British times.
Burma has approximately 4,500 domesticated (trained) Asian elephants in their logging industry, and another 4,000 to 6,000 of these highly endangered creatures roam wild. All are fully protected and their population, though declining, is relatively safe so long as the teak, which provides their livelihood, remains.
The Asian elephant, “Elephas Maximus”, can weigh 5,000kg and stand three metres tall. They first gained legendary status as war elephants some 2,000 years ago. Although they’re only able to carry a maximum of 300kg on their backs, they can drag some 2,000kg, or half their body weight, negotiate rugged tropical terrain and swim monsoon-swollen rivers. Put together, their abilities are ideal for extracting wild teak from the mixed forests in which it thrives – a fact recognised by the British, who introduced commercial logging to Burma in the early decades of the 1800s.
Teak is able to endure saltwater, sun, rot and shipworms (the scourge of oak), and its unparalleled durability makes it supremely suited to ship building. The Royal Navy’s insatiable demand stripped India first, then moved into “Further India”, as they originally called Burma. Here, the British devised a system of base camps, work sites and elephant training, and this remains in use today.
Not that other methods haven’t been tried. “I remember once the forestry people tried all sorts of machines,” Ainda told me back in Rangoon. “Cranes, sky hooks and so on. But they found nothing worked as well as the elephant.” Ainda (Burmese do not have surnames) owns a small travel agency which I have used on previous visits. I like his way of doing business in this sometimes trying, always rewarding country.
When I said I wanted to watch teak elephants at work in the jungle, away from the permanent base camps (which now charge tourists a hefty entry fee that goes straight to the government), I thought it might be difficult. But no problem. The next day Ainda sent Min Min (my personal Passepartout, translator, money changer and honest answerer of all questions) to my hotel with a car and driver. The six-hour drive north on the Rangoon-Mandalay road was pleasant, with little traffic. We arrived in Taungoo, a quiet town with tin-roof shops and a handful of small hotels, mid-aft ernoon.
We chose the older, comfortable Mother’s Guest House (although there were a couple of newer, pricier choices), and while I settled in Min Min headed out to find a local elephant guide. An hour later Maung Soe arrived on a muddy motorbike. His English was not as good as Min Min’s, but he knew about teak elephants, and, most important, just where to flnd them.
I was still half asleep when Maung Soe arrived at five the next morning. “I know, it’s early,” he said, starting up his bike. “But the oozies are already out in the forest gathering their elephants, and we have two hours to drive.”
As I would learn later, the oozies let their elephants roam free in the jungle at night (with hobbled forelegs so that they don’t wander too far). Thus, in their natural environment, they socialise, mate (domestic cows often being impregnated by wild bulls) and graze. They eat up to 200kg per day, and their favourite food, bamboo, is more than plentiful.
Several times along the logging roads, when the dirt was too soft or the slope too steep, I had to dismount and walk. Finally, Maung Soe spotted fresh pad prints leading to a path into the trees. We parked the bike and followed.
As we walked, Maung Soe filled me in on the training and lifestyle of the elephants. Baby elephants, he said, stay with their mothers until the age of three. Then a very patient training process begins. The young elephants learn to accept a rider on their backs, as well as hobbles on their forefeet. Finally, they are taught some two-dozen spoken commands, as well as foot signals from their riders.
From five to 17 years old, the calves simply transport supplies to the work sites. They begin real logging at 18, learning the ropes by imitating the older elephants around them. They start with lighter logs, but between the ages of 25 and 45, they work at full capacity. They are retired between 55 and 60 years-of-age and live to be 70, usually outlasting their masters. “The elephants work five hours a day, in the cool of the morning, and get two days off a week,” Maung Soe explained. “They start work in the forest when the monsoons begin in June and work through the cool season, until it gets hot in March. Then they return to base camp. Vacation time.”
I’m standing in shin-deep mud at the bottom of the ravine, with elephants working all around me when I hear Maung Soe suddenly call down. “Hello, sir! Come! An elephant bull is loading the lorries. This doesn’t happen every day. You’re in luck!”
Indeed, it is a sight to remember. Skilful as skidding teak logs may be, loading requires all the tricks in the book and years of experience. It also requires tusks (unlike their African counterparts, only Asian males have tusks), as the logs must be carried rather than dragged. The work is done in complete silence, the elephant apparently knowing exactly what to do.
Bending low, he scoops a log off the pile with his tusks, tucks it tight with his trunk, then marches it, at times through a gauntlet of trees, to the lorry. More than once, when the log was longer than the gap between two trees, he backed up, turned his head to insert the log endwise, eased it through until the farther end was clear, then straightened up and proceeded on.
At the lorry, the elephant deftly tucked each log into place, then trotted back, proud as a retriever. All the while his oozie seemed merely a passenger, smoking his cheroot in silence.
Teak loaded, and not yet noon, the workday is over for the elephant. I watch him canter down the road toward the river for a cool bath. Then it’s the aft ernoon off and a romp in the jungle. Until tomorrow.
ASIAN ELEPHANTS
Scattered among 13 Asian countries, the Asian elephant’s total population today is less than 50,000. Burma’s forests remain the largest continuous elephant-sustaining habitat left in Asia – twice as much as India and Thailand combined.
Burma’s political and social isolation has meant that traditional lifestyles have endured, and skills and knowledge lost elsewhere have been retained. Oozie skills are passed on from father to son by way of a long apprenticeship, but the work is hard, isolated and dangerous.
During their working months from June to January, the elephants have 12 to 16 hours of foraging time at night, enabling them to socialise with both camp and wild elephants. They have even more free-range time during their non-working months, from February to May.
TEAK
Burma supplies two-thirds of the world’s teak, one of the world’s most valuable hardwoods. It is slow growing (80–120 years to maturity), and in mountainous areas of mixed forest where the best timber is found, logs with a diameter of 60cm are rarely less than 100 years old. Teak is Burma’s second most lucrative export, after natural gas and oil. Thailand, China, and India are the prime markets.
HOW TO GO
A private car is the best way to travel, trafflc is light and the scenery and small villages are breathtaking. A car with driver (long distance) runs to about US$100–US$120/day.
An elephant guide in Taungoo with a motorbike is about US$45 for the day, a jeep about US$80. There is a government fee of US$10 to enter the Bago elephant logging forest region. From Yangon, it’s a six-hour drive to Taungoo.
In Taungoo, the writer stayed at Mother’s House, which offers space and comfort with air conditioning and a fan (US$12), and with good alfresco cafés nearby. There are also two newer hotels that are quite nice, from US$30 to US$70.
There has never been a better time to visit, and good deals can be found everywhere. For example, the Summit Parkview Yangon opened in 1998 charging US$150+ a room. On his last visit, the writer booked online for US$38 a night.
A traveller using cash for crafts, small private hotels, restaurants, private hired cars and so on, puts money directly into the hands of the people, without a paper trail and without taxes.
Travel agency: The writer recommends the personal service from Ainda (who made his elephant quest seamless). Ainda Travel Associates Ltd, tel +95 1 660266, email ainda@mptmail.net.mm
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