A tribute...to two extraordinary humans!

I’m in awe of  Lek and Darrick- both of whom are amazingly talented people…they are ‘do-ers’, each with a vision and a way to get things done. Together, that dynamic energy, combined with love for one another and for the natural world, has greatly expanded what they can achieve. I’m blown away when I see what they have accomplished together, and when I hear of their future plans for continued businesses and expansion of current operations. I have no idea how they keep track of all of the details, all of their businesses, nor how they manage to get enough sleep!

This bath time was so special- Lek loves playing around with the elephants.

Lek is quite a remarkable woman- a bit smaller than me (I think?) but large in life, she is an extremely busy woman, between the Elephant Nature Park and its focus on education, owning a vegan restaurant, authoring books, doing countless interviews…and that’s only a quick glimpse into her life. 

Lek seems to be an amazing businesswoman and networker. She is friends with Bob Barker, who has become quite involved with helping to save elephants, and who has donated a truck for transporting elephants to the park, and she has also had tea with Hilary Clinton, and received some grant money. She is compassionate, passionate, and charming…which all together are a killer combo. 

Many people come to the Elephant Nature Park just for the honour of meeting her- she is delightful, intelligent, an awesome story teller, and oh, and did I mention fun? She’s loads of fun!

My first day at the park, I think I saw her sit down to two different interviews, both close to an hour long, collect seeds from some flowers in one of the many gardens (they currently grow approximately 20% of the food for the park and the elephants, with a goal of 100%), give love to the many dogs they have adopted at the park, and I’m sure there were countless other things she did in the half day we were at the park. She is an author, an avid photographer, and runs several other businesses apart from the park. She is constantly on the look-out for more property to purchase either for the park, or to preserve forests in Thailand. She’s able to see the big picture, but also attends to the tiniest of details.

Darrick, Ian’s brother, is no slouch either- prior to him arriving at the park, there weren’t any buildings at all, and now, there are rental cabins, shelters for cooking, storage of food for the elephants, meeting rooms, a shop, pens for the elephants for sleeping at night, a whole village of homes for the mahouts, housing for the cooking staff, and so on and so on. 

How you usually see Darrick- explaining details to his crew, or running around and seeing other details (ie, those tires need fixing, oh, that field needs watering...and then he makes it happen!). 

He is a natural builder, and has used everything from bamboo to locally made sun dried earth bricks, to wood, to split bamboo panels. There are now wonderful raised boardwalks out over a section of the sanctuary, so that you can be really close to the elephants without disturbing them.

Darrick is at home with all of the animals in the park as Lek is. He loves playing with them, even the ones most of us would be hesitant to pat...

 He has staff who are in the process of making new homes right now for the macaque monkey that was rescued from the flood He runs  around the park all day noting maintenance needs, directing staff in building projects, doing some building himself, and planning out new buildings and dog runs. And going through hundreds of other things in his brain.

Darrick, in a rare moment of repose- we hiked to the top of a hill at their property outside of the park, and he did slow down to enjoy this view. Actually, in this shot, he's likely looking at the orange trees that were neglected, and trying to think of another replacement crop...but he's still here, nonetheless.

They have both been extremely busy for the past couple of months, saving animals across the country during the flood- there were lots of stranded dogs, monkeys, cats, etc. who were stuck on rooftops, or on floating bits of debris, and along with volunteers, they set out to save them. That occupied a lot of time, and put them into dangerous situations, but the result was saving many many animals who would have otherwise perished from the flood waters.

They are growing coffee, oranges, tea, lychee fruit, bananas, and other crops on land that Lek inherited from her grandfather, and in addition, they have land in Cambodia for a future sanctuary, and I have already forgotten several of the other really amazing projects that are cooking. I have no idea how they get everything done that they do…I would guess that they operate on very little sleep every day, given that we seem to see them here at the park for a full day, and then they go home and do several hours (I’m surmising!) of work each night to keep caught up with all of their projects and correspondence.

I realise that this entry is a long one, but I needed to express how inspiring, how motivating it is to be in the midst of two such passionate go-getters. They rock this world, and you should really come spend a week or more at the park and see for yourself! If even a little of their motivation is passed on to the thousands of visitors each year, why, our world can only get better. I know that I'm inspired by my stay here- by seeing how much can be achieved when you put two motivated people together. Do come to the park, though- it's an incredibly beautiful corner of the world!