“My name is Somboon; you’ll all know me as the elephant that, with Sri Nuan marched on the ‘Walk to Freedom in May 2019. I recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. It’s lovely knowing that he is born into complete freedom. We called him Haven Moonlight because he was born under the last full moon of the decade and is the first baby at Samui Elephant Haven. He’s stolen a little piece of everyone’s hearts.
My first baby was Nong Pech, and I’m so happy that she is here at Samui Elephant Haven. It was overwhelming to see her again after such a long time. She was taken from me when she was only two years old and was forced into street begging in the Surin province. One day she made an awful tumble and fell into a deep drain and was injured so severely it took her two years to recover. Because we were separated, I knew nothing of this until we met again. My heart broke into a million pieces when I knew that she had to endure this alone. We often talk late into the night.
For most of my life, I’ve been used for trekking with heavy metal chairs on my back. I’ve walked thousands of miles along the same pathways over the years. At night we were always chained up in the woods so that we didn’t escape. I’d get scared by noises quite easily; the woods get spooky and dark at night. If there are loud noises or something I don’t understand, I try to run somewhere safe. Perhaps I need a night light. Come and say “Hi” if you are visiting Koh Samui, we would love to meet you and eat bananas together.
