“Our people have lived with Elephants for a long time,” explains Y Xuyen, an Elephant herder from the M’nong tribe in Vietnam’s Central Highlands Region. “Con Voi or Elephants have helped us greatly, hauling timber down from the mountains for us to build new homes, new bridges to connect mountains. We have always revered, always taken great care of them.”
We’re in the village of Ban Don, a Rhade community along the banks of the Serepok River. In 1968, American Green Berets flew out a pair of Elephants from here to Tra Bong Village – one of the most amazing true stories from the Vietnam War and the basis for the Disney movie Operation Dumbo Drop.
For centuries, Elephants have been loved and revered by the Vietnamese people, especially by the Montagnards or Hill Tribes, who have long inhabited the rugged forests along the mountainous borders of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
BRUTAL BEGINNINGS
Living along steep-sided mountains with few roads, Montagnard Tribes, particularly the Rhade and M’nong, employed Elephants to haul produce, equipment, and raw materials up and down hills – especially logs for construction.
“We have caught and trained Con Voi for a thousand years and they have become living symbols of our people. The traditional way of catching Elephants is to employ old, tame ones. Our trackers seek out wild Elephant herds in the forest. We choose only the youngest ones, who are corralled and cut off from the herd – not an easy task since Elephants will fight to protect their young. We use thick ropes hewn from buffalo hide to ensnare one of the baby Elephant’s rear legs.”
The process for “breaking” an Elephant is similar to what Native Americans once did to wild Horses. “We have to ensure [they] understand who is the boss. We starve [them] for several days and use heavy wooden collars for [them] to realize that [they] must follow our instructions closely,” continues Y Xuyen. “After several days, [they are] escorted back to the lowlands, surrounded by our tame Elephants.”
Weeks of training later, the baby Elephants are sold to local traders or middlemen from Laos and Cambodia, before being assigned a mahout or trainer, who control the Elephant’s movements with a heavy metal bullhook, whose pokes and prods guide the Elephant.
Though the capture process can be relatively brutal, the bond between a mahout and Elephant is often lifelong. “Our tribes value Elephants as much as any living person.”
This practice was fortunately halted by the government in 1994.
NOT JUST TIMBER
When Khublai Khan’s Mongols invaded ancient Vietnam – known then as Đại Việt – in the 13th century, armored war Elephants opposed them. During its long wars with France and, more famously, America, both Vietnam and its enemies used Elephants as pack animals. The Vietcong and North Vietnamese used them to haul weapons and ammunition up and down the legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail, even as American-allied Montagnards used them to fortify villages.
ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION
After the Vietnam War in 1975, the country turned to its remaining natural resources – forests and wildland – to rebuild. Thousands of hectares of forest were sacrificed to erect new homes and give agriculture a boost. Vietnam is now renowned for coffee, but most of its coffee plantations were built on once-verdant forestland.
Constantly caught in the middle, Elephants suffered a double-whammy: being captured in their hundreds for the booming Elephant trade, and losing the vast majority of their home forests. From a largely undocumented population numbering many thousands in the 1950s, less than 150 of Vietnam’s once-numerous Elephants remain.
From its lofty position of cultural and historical significance, Vietnam’s wild Elephants are on the brink of extinction.
From a largely undocumented population numbering many thousands in the 1950s, less than 150 of Vietnam’s once-numerous Elephants remain.
RETIRED ELEPHANTS AT THE YOK DON NATIONAL PARK
“Today, we shall go and find some wild Elephants,” announces Y Siem, a Rhade tribesman and wildlife guide based in the nearby Yok Don National Park.
Riding muddy motorbikes, we’re zooming through dirt trails looking for signs of the plus-sized pachyderms. “Around 10 once-tame Elephants have been released into this park since 2018. Here they live out the rest of their days in peace, protected by park rangers and staff,” he said.
Supported by international conservation groups and the Vietnamese government, Yok Don has become a “retirement home” for the country’s last working Elephants, whose numbers have plummeted in the past decades.
Dak Lak province, the country’s main hub for tame Elephants, saw numbers decline from over 500 in 1980 to around 30 today.
HOME TO WILD ANIMALS
Elephants can be seen all over Vietnam’s Central Highlands – painted on buildings, carved onto stone walls and wooden poles, and printed on T-shirts and tarpaulins. May Vietnam’s Con Voi survive far into the future. (Gregg Yan)
Yok Don is among Vietnam’s biggest national parks – home not just to the largest remaining Elephant herds, but rare and endangered wildlife like Tigers, wild Cattle, Buffalo, Deer, Pigs, and Monkeys.
A haven for birdwatchers and nature-lovers, Yok Don hosts up to 60 of the country’s remaining wild Elephants.
“In 1994, our government finally restricted the hunting and capture of wild Elephants. The working Elephants you see now were caught before then,” concludesY Xuyen. “Though we are sad at the loss of our companions, we are happy to see them released in the wild. Like people, they also deserve to rest and retire after a lifetime of work.”
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
A better tourism experience than simple Elephant rides, Yok Don National Park offers a far more sustainable, infinitely more ethical Elephant experience to visitors.
Still, the future of Vietnam’s Con Voi remains uncertain, with too few breeding adults. If the country stops developing its remaining forests into farms, addresses human-wildlife conflict caused by foraging animals with little natural food left, and releases more tame Elephants that can breed again, then perhaps Con Voi will still be part not just of Vietnam’s history, but its future as well.
