GLI UOMINI ELEFANTE: La storia incredibile della tribù che vive con gli elefanti in Thailandia 🇹🇭

Our story goes back many centuries. We protected the balance between man and elephant. These animals need us now. Here, this is a perfect example of an adult specimen’s footprint. I have been taking care of elephants for more than 10 years. But even today I get excited when I see them in the forest. If they see other people, they might react in an unpredictable way. He knows we are here. I think he… …he knows. My name is Giuseppe and I have a mission: to explore the most remote corners of the planet to meet guardians of ancient secrets, women and men with extraordinary stories and lives capable of inspiring us and making us see the world with different eyes. And to each of them I will ask the most important question of all: “What is happiness for you?” A question so powerful as to reveal the deepest essence of humanity. Welcome to “PROJECT HAPPINESS”. Another classic day at the office for us. Today we find ourselves in a remote area of Thailand a few hours away from the border with Burma. We already knew this adventure would be much more complex than the others. But we didn’t expect this much since we were welcomed by torrential rains. Because in Thailand the rainy season has just begun. And it makes everything much more complex especially because the dirt road, the road is not paved. And so every meter, every step forward turns into a sort of trap. Because the mud can hide holes where the car can get stuck. But we don’t stop since these are the essential ingredients for a great adventure. And we are about to reach one of the Karen villages which is one of the oldest tribes in all of Southeast Asia. And they are famous for passing down from father to son a tradition, a centuries-old culture. As fascinating as it is dangerous. That is, the union, the alliance between man and elephant. These men are called “Mahout” and they are the guardians of this animal so powerful, so regal. But which still needs protection from these men. Because here in Thailand this relationship, this rapport between man and animal is very controversial. Especially in recent years due to tourism. And we are here precisely to document how this relationship, this rapport between man and elephant has evolved. And we want to tell you about it today. So sit back and relax, at least you, because another great adventure with “PROJECT HAPPINESS” is about to begin. For centuries the elephant has been the symbol of Thailand, man’s ally, battle companion and emblem of power and regality. Respected and honored, but unfortunately always exploited. During almost all of the twentieth century it was used to drag timber from teak forests. Then in 1989 the government banned legal logging and thousands of working elephants found themselves without a future. Neither free, nor useful. Many were sold. Shows, trekking, selfies. Basically a new prison disguised as a tourist attraction. Elephants, however, cannot really be domesticated. Because their needs, their mind and emotions are too complex for us to understand. This is indeed man’s greatest illusion. To believe he can control what he does not understand. Yet not all is lost. In Thailand there are still the “Mahout”. The last protectors. Men who with courage and patience try to save elephants from tourism and reintroduce them into nature. And we have come here to tell you the story of the “Mahout”. And to observe up close a fragile but precious bond. The village is full of dogs that are among the Karen’s best friends. Because they not only keep them company, they not only help them during their working days, but they protect them especially from wild animals. Being here immersed in nature, there are cobras, snakes, venomous animals that could somehow also attack humans. Now we are going towards the house of one of the most important, most renowned “Mahout” here in the village and we would like to meet him to understand how the figure of the “Mahout” of the past has changed with the “Mahout” of today. And then try to understand if we will be able to spend a day together with them to understand this new relationship that exists between man and elephant. In this house two generations of “Mahout” live under the same roof. A father who has passed everything on to his son. And listening to the words of this expert “Mahout” we can understand how the relationship with the elephant has changed over time. Everything has changed. In the past there was no need to protect them, they could be free in the forest. But I still went to greet them every morning. I accompanied them to an area where there were no rice fields. We protected the balance between man and elephant. Now everything has changed: without us, they could not live in peace. There is no other choice. We must protect them from ourselves. These animals need us now. We have taken care of elephants for many generations, forever I would say. Our story goes back many centuries. In the past, my mother and father taught me how to take care of elephants. Then I passed this knowledge on to my children. It is passed down from generation to generation. Thanks to his precious teachings, today the son has become one of the most skilled and sensitive “Mahout” in the village. An example to follow for all the others. He is still very young, but despite the enormous difficulties, he is determined to continue this tradition, to defend his elephants, to bring them back to their habitat and to fight every day to guarantee them the freedom they deserve. Although the landscape around us is wonderful, the gaze is always turned downward to try to see if we find the footprints, which with the rain become practically puddles, because the elephant’s paw is so big that it creates a circle and fills up with rain. Here, this is a perfect example of an adult specimen’s footprint, nice and big, and he left his steps with the little one behind. So we expect to find an adult and a little one, but I also want you to notice the direction of the footprint which for the “Mahout” is like a compass. So he knows the animal is going in that direction. So a footprint can tell so much to the “Mahout” to look for his elephant. And there he is, from afar we glimpse Dodo, the elephant that Saglat protects. We approach with great caution and then something difficult to explain happens. There is no hurry, no command, just an encounter. An elephant that trusts and a man who listens. And us in silence admiring. These elephants are free and we protect them in the forest. They won’t have to work for man anymore. But not being used to living here anymore, we have to help them, we have to be an invisible help and not disturb them. They just have to relax and look for food. But each elephant’s behavior is different. For example, male elephants. They cannot be cared for by anyone, an expert “Mahout” is needed. Females instead are much easier to manage. But males must know you for a long time before they can trust you. They don’t allow just anyone to approach them. In Thailand there isn’t much forest left. And that’s why we have to follow them so they don’t encounter man. When elephants walk in the forest, we sit and observe them. Just watching them gives us joy. When we see that the elephants are serene, we are too. It’s my life mission. An elephant reintroduced into nature cannot simply be let go. It needs to be accompanied, guided, especially so as not to become a danger to nearby villages and crops. Also because unfortunately many of these elephants bear deep signs of the violence suffered to force them to do tourist shows. They have behavioral disorders and anything can trigger a sudden reaction in them. The only ones they really trust are the “Mahout”, who somehow manage to understand mood changes. But actually not even they are completely safe. It’s a job of enormous responsibility and great risk. A profession that requires courage, patience and deep respect for these giants. Although it’s a very risky and very tiring job because following the elephant on these hills is really complex, I assure you. At times though it’s relaxing. Because watching and observing an elephant eat, really relaxes you. It puts all your senses at peace because you see him there, peaceful, serene, eating 150 kg of grass, branches, leaves, fruit, shrubs, every day. About 150 kg. It’s important to remember this because clearly the animal feeds for almost all the hours of the day. He sleeps very little, about 4 hours. He often sleeps standing up, especially if in captivity because he always feels in danger. In nature, in freedom, he can sleep a bit more fortunately. But it’s important to remind you how much he eats because there’s a consequence, that is, the elephant’s waste, dung can reach up to 100 kg per day. And why do I want to tell you this? Well because it’s very important. The elephant is also called the gardener or farmer of the forest because thanks to his dung he manages to sow hundreds and hundreds of seeds throughout the forest. And the forest becomes lush precisely thanks to him, thanks to his natural fertilizer. And think that all the villages around also use the dung to produce paper. So through a waste that is absolutely not waste, humans also benefit by producing paper. So writing and maybe also passing memories to future generations. And this makes me smile because it also connects to the incredible memory of the elephant that helps the somewhat less incredible memory of humans with paper. There. They say the elephant never forgets and it’s really so. They carry with them memories that last a lifetime. Like for example the paths to water and safe places in the forest. But Dodo also remembers and recognizes very well Saglat’s voice, his gestures and even his smell. A memory that is not erased and that forever binds two such different lives. We must approach this adventure in the right way that is, respect the space between us and the “Mahout” and between the “Mahout” and the elephant. Because he is the only one who can approach the elephant because the elephant only trusts him. So today we will be spectators from afar to respect this alliance so fragile but so powerful that exists between the “Mahout” and the elephant. Let’s go. We are very close to the elephant. Every time I see him so high up I wonder how the hell he managed to climb up there. Because I’m having an incredible struggle not to slip. But he’s right there. We are already very close actually. It’s probably a great success to see Dodo, Saglat’s elephant, eating, relaxing in the forest. Because actually he comes from the tourism industry, from the industry that exploited him for years as a riding elephant, let’s put it that way. Imagine him as you often see in tourist brochures, the elephant carrying tourists on his back for rides. That was exactly him but in a moment of fear he ran away with two tourists on his back into the forest. From that moment he was banned from all these tourist facilities and never found a place where he could live his life in peace. Because he was always relegated to the corners of villages with a chain to prevent him from moving, to not make him a danger. Dodo has always been lazy. They say he never wanted to work. Sometimes, when they treated him badly, he would run away into the forest and hide. That’s why they abandoned him. In the village there was no one capable of being his “Mahout” because he’s quite aggressive. And so I decided to take care of him myself. It’s not easy to earn his trust, you have to first understand what they’ve been through. And then make them understand that you won’t treat them badly anymore. I have been taking care of elephants for more than 10 years. But even today I get excited when I see them in the forest. I always want to learn more from other more experienced “Mahout” to improve my communication with elephants. The signs of an angry elephant are similar to those of humans. You can tell from the eyes, like this. But if they are excited they run around playing. And if they are happy, they walk around and look for food, that’s all they want to do: walk and look for food. When Dodo is excited, he runs and plays and doesn’t listen to anyone. That’s how I understand he’s having fun. But if he’s serene, all he wants to do is find food and forage. If he’s angry, he spreads his ears like this. And you can tell he’s angry from his eyes. It makes me happy when he looks for food and listens to my voice. Although his sight is very poor, he can see up to 10 meters, but blurred. His hearing and smell are very very acute. He knows very well that we are here and knows very well that we are strangers. As he knows well that Saglat is with us, so probably that’s why he remains calm, docile, simply because he’s here with us. But he knows well that there are strangers because he doesn’t recognize our smell. There’s another very interesting fact about elephants. They can communicate at impressive distances, up to 10-15 km, thanks to infrasounds, that is, vibrations they can send through the ground to other elephants, very distant from them, helping themselves with pads under their paws, from which they receive these vibrations and can decipher them understanding the message that was sent to another elephant. So he could probably also send a message to another elephant about the fact that we are here. They are animals as fascinating as they are complex, even if man deludes himself into having understood them. Saglat, however, is not just a guardian for Dodo. He has become a symbol for many younger “Mahout”. An example of someone who chooses the more difficult, but more just path. Because obviously continuing this tradition is not easy. Especially when on the other side tourism offers easy and fast money. But thanks to his example, more and more young people choose to stay, to believe that the elephant should be protected and not exploited. Like this young “Mahout”, who today takes care of a wonderful female and her little one of just two years. There he is, there he is! I don’t know if you can hear it, but we are close to a mother with her cub. And they are communicating with each other, at least the mother is communicating with the cub. With a sort of squeak that can mean so many things. Very complex to understand their communication, but it’s there. It’s alive, you can hear it. They are maybe 50 meters from us, but the forest is so thick that we can barely see them, but we are with their “Mahout”. And we will try to approach them together, clearly with great caution, because the mother is very protective of her cub. So thanks to his help we will try to get closer to understand this relationship. You can’t understand how excited I am. I have chills because probably many of us have seen an elephant in captivity, unfortunately at the circus. But seeing him like this, in his power, in his freedom, in the forest is a whole other thing. This is a gift, this is a gift from nature, because now we have Dodo, who is Saglat’s elephant, and Junior and Sri Prai, who are this boy’s elephants. They are here, they came to cool off, to drink. Think that elephants don’t even have sweat glands, so they need to cool off with water when they feel too hot. We keep each other company in silence. We stay together always. Sri Prai is a good elephant, but she’s afraid of men because of what they did to her. Every morning I wake up with Sri Prai, I follow her while she eats and then we walk together in the forest. If they see other people, they might react in an unpredictable way. The little one would hide under the mother to protect himself. I am Sri Prai’s “Mahout”. Sometimes the baby elephant is a mischievous elephant. And, sometimes, he’s very playful and approaches me to play. Sometimes they are in a good mood and sometimes in a bad mood. Every day is different. From here we can also admire the respect that the “Mahout” has for the elephant, which is measured by the distance he places between himself and the animal. He is never invasive, he always lets the animal almost come to him, as Junior just did. You saw that he tried to play with him, but it really seems that the “Mahout” respects this space, that probably the animal, the elephant needs and that he is now rediscovering. In captivity, he had absolutely none, while the “Mahout” here is trying to earn that respect that unfortunately the animal previously had for no human being. And Dodo? Where is Dodo? Dodo… is up there. He knows we are here. I think he… …he knows. Is he okay with us being here? Is he relaxed? He’s okay, because I’m here. He trusts me. Are you ever scared of Dodo? Sometimes, because I don’t know… sometimes he’s angry. He’s unpredictable, you don’t know what he might do. We can see it in his eyes. In the eyes. Yes, in the eyes. When he’s angry he doesn’t move his ears. And when he looks at you? He focuses on me, but then when he calms down he doesn’t do it anymore and thinks about food. When he’s calm he doesn’t look at you. Yeah. But when he’s angry he focuses on me. He’s still eating. All day long! Beautiful. Have you ever lost him? Maybe sometimes you don’t see him anymore. Have you ever lost him? No, I follow his footprints. Okay, you always find him. Yes, I always find him. And it’s precisely in this moment of calm before Dodo falls asleep that Saglat talks to us about happiness, with the simplicity however of someone who lives it every day. I can be Dodo’s “Mahout”. Because I am part of his family. If you stay away from the elephant too long, you will have to start training him again to be his “Mahout”. At first you have to give him some food so he starts to know you. So he understands that I’m here to take care of him and not for other reasons. We have to be careful every day. If we stay with them every day, we can build a good relationship, but we still have to be cautious. Imposing, majestic, deeply sensitive and free. The elephant was not born to obey. Yet for too long our relationship with animals has been based on control, on force and on a distorted idea of care that often hid only exploitation. But the way we treat these extraordinary beings says a lot about us, about how we relate to nature and how much we are really willing to respect what we cannot dominate. And Saglat with his story reminds us of this very well. Our task is not to command, but to coexist, respect and have the courage to return freedom to those who have lost it. And only then could we say we truly understand what it means to be human. And perhaps, right there, we will discover ourselves happy.

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In Thailandia, tra le foreste e i silenzi della natura, esiste ancora un legame raro: quello tra i Mahout e i loro elefanti. Un rapporto antico, fragile e profondamente umano.
In questo viaggio abbiamo incontrato Saglat, uno degli ultimi giovani Mahout, cresciuto accanto al suo elefante Dodo.
Abbiamo vissuto con loro, osservato i gesti quotidiani, ascoltato le storie, e cercato di capire cosa significhi davvero convivere con un essere selvaggio… senza volerlo domare.
In un mondo dove il turismo cerca intrattenimento e profitto, c’è chi sceglie la via più difficile: il rispetto, la pazienza, la libertà.
Questo non è un documentario sugli elefanti. È un viaggio nel modo in cui scegliamo di stare al mondo.

✨ *Iscriviti al canale e viaggia con noi alla ricerca della formula della felicità nel mondo.*
📲 Seguici su Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/progettohappiness/
💌 Per collaborazioni: info@progettohappiness.com

Buona visione ♥︎

*⚡️PROGETTO HAPPINESS TEAM⚡️*
• AUTORE & HOST: Giuseppe Bertuccio D’Angelo
•⁠ ⁠DIRECTOR: Nicola Guaita, Davide Fantuzzi
• PRODUCER: Stefano Reposi
•⁠ ⁠EDITING: Gianmarco Garimberti
•⁠ ⁠SOUND DESIGN & MIX: Lorenzo Sattin
•⁠ ⁠SOUND DESIGN: Riccardo De Cillis
•⁠ ⁠TRADUZIONI: Fabrizio Chia
• DOPPIAGGIO MULTILINGUA AI: https://youdubstudio.com/_

34 Comments

  1. alzi parecchio il livello su yt italia ma anche del mondo con le tue produzioni del progetto happines,grazie di documentarci e farci vedere un po di mondo

  2. Sono uno scrittore, ogni giorno cerco di entrare in contatto con le mie emozioni e considero il riavvicinamento alla natura e ai suoi ritmi il mezzo più potente ed efficace per raggiungere una vita serena. Non posso che provare ammirazione per chi fa di questo il suo scopo. Grazie per avermi fatto scoprire questa realtà

  3. Musiche, immagini, parole.. Sei un emozione unica.. Bellissimo video mi ha emozionato molto.. Sapere che c'è chi davvero ci tiene a questi splendidi animali.. ❤❤❤

  4. Fare i complimenti è ormai riduttivo di fronte a questi video di incredibile bellezza e sensibilità nel incontrare queste culture
    Grazie ancora Giuseppe

  5. Come and visit chitwan of Nepal to know about the real life and bond between people and elephant 🐘 🇳🇵

  6. Complimenti come sempre Giuseppe ! Sarebbe molto interessante se tu riuscissi, un giorno, a portare un video sulla vita dei combattenti thai

  7. Un video di progetto happiness dove non si spettacolarizza l'uccisione o il maltrattamento degli animali, è incredibile…

  8. una volta lo facevi per scoprire la ricetta della felicita' e portarla a chi la cercava sul web…. l'abbonamento non credo che possa permetterselo chi è alla ricerca di quest'ultimo… ma era giusto per fartelo notare, so che avrai i tuoi buoni motivi. <3 ti stimo cmq

  9. Meraviglioso! Anche io mi sono innamorata degli elefanti in Thailandia, a Khao sok, in un santuario dove non li sfruttano, ma se ne prendono cura

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