Tim Bewer, 45, a Wisconsin native, has lived in Khon Kaen, Thailand, since 2007. Five years ago, Bewer, who contributes to Lonely Planet Thailand, and his wife, Suttawan Intarapanich, started Isan Explorer, a company that arranges private tours in the northeastern region. In 2014, the couple, inspired by the work of a Thai elephant advocate, changed the elephant portion of their tours to focus on the animals’ well-being. Following are edited excerpts from a conversation with Bewer.
Q: What brought you to Thailand?
A: I first came in 1997, visited several times and returned in 2007 to have a different travel experience, to stay somewhere for one year instead of traveling around. Now it’s been over eight years and I have no plans to leave. I met my wife five years ago. I’m a pretty low-key person, and Thailand is a low-key culture.
Q: Why did you start Isan Explorer?
A: The northeast has very few tourists and not many guides. A guide I know in the area talked me into starting a tour business with her. She changed her mind, but I’d already gotten interested on my own.
Q: Your tour options include time with elephants, along with stops for crafts, culture and food. What were your original thoughts about elephants?
A: Historically, elephants worked in the logging industry. After logging was banned, tourism became a way to make money with the elephants. They started trekking camps and talent shows, which have become very popular. In my area, people caught and trained elephants, but it’s now illegal to capture elephants for tourism. At night, elephants used to be able to roam in the forest, but now, without space, they’re kept on chains. During the day, the mahouts (elephant owners and handlers) walk around with them, and people pay for sugar cane to feed them or have a picture with them. It’s horrible for the elephants — walking on concrete, breathing bad air. I used to see elephants walk by my house every day, and I would feel bad for them. I still see them, but not as much.
Q: How did you decide which elephant attractions to offer?
A: Surin, the province next to mine, is still known as a base for elephant handlers, with some villages populated by the Kui tribe of elephant herders. In Ban Tha Klang, the government built the Elephant Study Center to give mahouts work. We would go to see the show and feed the elephants. They don’t do terrible things with elephants, like headstands, but they still have them throw darts, play basketball and stand on their hind legs, which takes intensive training. They also offer rides, which aren’t good for elephants. This model is still the norm all over, but it’s changing.
Q: What prompted your changes?
A: I knew about Lek Chailert’s work in Chiang Mai at the Elephant Nature Park caring for elephants. She started a program at the Surin center, where they hired elephants and mahouts and brought in volunteers to help care for the elephants, which aren’t in chains and don’t do tricks. I contacted her, thinking we could use her mahouts and elephants, but she suggested we work on our own with other mahouts, because it shows that other people are interested in her model.
Q: What elephant activities do you now offer guests?
A: We don’t go to shows or offer rides. We walk with elephants, which is more exciting anyway because you get to see them closer and more intimately. We walk to the river, one elephant and mahout per guest. The elephants can splash around and play in the mud, which they love. Mahouts will wash their elephant, and guests can join them. We eat lunch while elephants walk in an enclosed area, where they can also swim and run. Then we walk through the forest, and at the end the elephants go swimming again. We end the day with feeding the elephants.
Q: How do the mahouts react?
A: The mahouts are attached to their elephants, though not all of them think about the animal’s happiness. I tell them the point of the trip is to make the guests happy, but also to give the elephants a day of happiness and freedom. One of the mahouts new to us said he’d enjoyed the tour, and said the elephants had, too. “How do you know?” I asked. “They were making happy noises all day long,” he said.
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