Thailand's 4-footed paper factory

Your WoWasis research team has uncovered a new way of making paper, and elephant dung provides the material. Taking a tour or trekking by elephant has been a favorite of western travelers to Thailand for decades. These sure-footed, gracious, and well-tempered animals can take you on a ½ hour to 1 hour walk through the countryside at many places in Thailand. Morning is best, as mahouts are generally leery of taking elephants out in the heat of the afternoon. If you happen to take a tour on the River Kwai through Kanchanaburi, you may encounter the Saiyok Elephant Park 50 km distant, where you can ride for 300 baht per half-hour, or 600 baht per hour. 

The mahouts don’t speak English, but here’s what they’d tell you if they did: 

1)      Elephants eat 10% of their body weight, daily.
2)      Their food comes from four sources: pineapple leaves, pineapple husks, sugar cane, and banana plants.
3)      They poop prodigiously, and their dung is collected by massive trucks, which unload at paper factories…
4)      … where elephant dung is made into paper and paper products. At the elephant park, you can even buy a picture fame made from elephant poop. And it doesn’t smell, either. 

Saiyok Elephant Park
30/2 Moo 3
Baanlumsum Saiyok
Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Open 9 am – 4 pm
Tel (034) 591-255
www.elephantpark.com