Grey surrounds me, walking in a sea of creatures that I love, each towering over me like a parent looking over a child. Splashing in the water cooling off. Lying beneath tall green trees that offer them shade …. That’s when I saw her. From the beginning I was drawn to her, her blinding beauty like I’ve never seen.

From a distance, I might not see the folds and creases of wrinkled skin. I would miss the skin stained with dirt, an attempt to stop the oppressive sun. I couldn’t see the old eyes with dull irises straining to see. I wouldn’t notice the tear streak fallen from the eye, leaving a wake of dust in its path. 

At over 55 years old this elephant, Jokia, has endured far more pain than could be imagined. Trapped in forced labor, she was beaten and bruised. Forced into logging and tortured if she stopped inflixed the loss not only of her sight, but also of her newborn calf. The long winding road to freedom full of steep hills and deep valleys led her to The Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand. My 16 hour flight a raindrop compared to her storm on the journey it took to get here. The strength of the wild strong in her heart, kept pushing her forward. A lesson learned in the worst of ways. 

Her story like a heavy weight on my heart, my mind spinning at the amount of pain one could go through. This experience was eye opening and extraordinary and my time here was too short. A life lesson that’s what I took away from my time with Jokia, my strength will always be my ability to connect with nature. My personal paradise gone as fast as it came, but for them this paradise was forever.