{"id":806,"date":"2020-09-13T13:51:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-13T12:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/?p=806"},"modified":"2021-04-11T15:37:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T14:37:52","slug":"elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephant encounters on elephant terms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mahn and Mohn are mother and daughter. They were separated after Mohn was born, and sold to two different riding camps in Laos. Two years ago they were reunited at MandaLao, where elephants rescued from tourist camps and logging can find sanctuary. There they are offered a new life where their needs come before those of visiting tourists and local farmers.<\/span> We spent a morning walking with the pair and learning about this very different elephant camp.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many people I love, and am fascinated by, elephants. I have learned however that not all the opportunities offered for tourists to interact with them are designed with the elephants in mind, and are to be avoided. During a recent visit to Luang Prabang we were privileged to visit a nearby elephant sanctuary, MandaLao<\/a>, which is very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elephant
Elephant bathing at MandaLao <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tourists who visit MandaLao can and do interact with the elephants, but on their terms. The philosophy is, don’t train elephants to entertain people, train people to entertain elephants. By simply meeting and walking with the tourists the elephants can continue to search for food themselves, as is natural, and can keep walking, which they need to do for their digestive system to work properly. MandaLao pays riding camps a rental fee to bring the elephants here. If they bought the elephants outright the chances are that the owners of the other camps would simply buy new ones to replace them, but by renting them they give the camps an alternative income. The aim is to model to other elephant camps that it is possible to earn money while not requiring the elephants to do anything that doesn’t come naturally to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is working; a nearby camp recently stopped offering elephant rides and now operates in a similar way to MandaLao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our visit<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Driving out of town we passed an area where a high-speed railway is being built by the Chinese, which will link Kunming to Luang Prabang and Vientiane, and on to Thailand. The Lao government clearly believes this will be a positive development, but people locally aren’t happy about it. Some have had to move out of their homes as their land was compulsorily purchased, and there are fears it will bring too many visitors to the town and result in over-development \u2013 large hotels, casinos etc. It also made the road very bumpy (I read a silly Google review of MandaLao which marked the experience down just because of this road!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Man
Our guide at MandaLao <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Arriving at the camp we were served coffee and met the Thai project director, Prasop Tipprasert. He chatted to us for some time about how he came to be here. He used to work with elephants in Thailand, using them on his tree farm. Then he became aware how quickly their population was declining and realised that he wanted to do something to help. Because so many people rely on the elephants as a source of income, he knew it would not be easy to convince those people to simply to stop using them for tourist rides, logging etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead he had to devise a way in which the elephants could do what he described as ‘friendly work’ \u2013 work that didn’t interfere with their natural needs to eat and walk, as those tourist-pleasing activities sadly do. Riding, for instance, restricts their ability to search out the foods they need for a varied diet (ideally, he told us, they should eat 200 different plants) and also makes them far too hot and puts too much weight on their backs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking with the elephants<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After our chat with Prasop we were given special boots to wear (we were to find out why later!), sun-tan lotion and insect repellent to use if needed, and aluminium water bottles in carriers. We walked down to the riverbank with our guide and were ferried across in a small wooden boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Landscape
Crossing the river at MandaLao <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Man
Crossing the river at MandaLao <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the far side we met our companions for the morning, Mahn and Mohn \u2013 two of their 13 elephants. We helped to give them their breakfast treat of bananas and then set off across the fields to the forest, followed by our new friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elephants
First meeting with the elephants at MandaLao <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mahn and Mohn recognised each other when they were reunited at MandaLao, and are now together most of the time. Eventually however the team here hope that Mohn might be able to be released into a national park, as she is probably young enough to learn new ways and will hopefully breed and produce babies to help grow the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hiked with the elephants through the forest as they hunted for food, had dust baths and later drank at a pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elephants
Elephants enjoying a dust bath<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Elephants
Elephants drinking, MandaLao<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The mahouts never use sticks here. As the manager had told us, they don’t use a carrot and stick system, only carrots, or rather bananas and sugar cane, to reward good behaviour. So the elephants set the pace throughout our walk, and we simply went along with them – stopping when they stopped, walking when they walked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elephant<\/figure><\/div>
\"Elephant<\/figure><\/div>
\"Close-up<\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Elephant<\/figure><\/div>
\"Elephant<\/figure><\/div>
\"Wet<\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This was a super experience and I hope their ambition of setting this example will produce results, as it seems to be doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a couple of hours we said goodbye to Mahn and Mohn and left them to continue their walk with just the mahouts for company. We made our way back to the river, wading through several streams to get there (hence the need for the borrowed boots, I realised) and across farmland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vegetable
Fields at MandaLao <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We crossed back over the river to finish our visit with a delicious lunch cooked mainly from produce from MandaLao’s organic garden. It was a chance to relax and reflect on a wonderful morning, happy that we had by visiting made a contribution to the admirable work being done here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I visited MandaLao in 2020<\/sub><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mahn and Mohn are mother and daughter. They were separated after Mohn was born, and sold to two different riding camps. Two years ago they were reunited at MandaLao, where elephants rescued from tourist camps and logging find sanctuary. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[405,80,73],"tags":[79,82,78,76,81,75,77],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animals","category-eco-tourism","category-laos","tag-animals","tag-asia","tag-eco-tourism","tag-elephant","tag-indochina","tag-laos","tag-wildlife"],"yoast_head":"\nElephant encounters on elephant terms - staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A visit to MandaLao in Laos, where elephants are rescued from riding camps and given sanctuary, and tourists interact with them on their own terms\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elephant encounters on elephant terms - staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A visit to MandaLao in Laos, where elephants are rescued from riding camps and given sanctuary, and tourists interact with them on their own terms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/toonsarah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/toonsarah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-13T12:51:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-11T14:37:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1934\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Wilkie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Wilkie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah Wilkie\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c1f55541a1f1dc72c35144e26c13dfb5\"},\"headline\":\"Elephant encounters on elephant terms\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-13T12:51:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-11T14:37:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":996,\"commentCount\":19,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c1f55541a1f1dc72c35144e26c13dfb5\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"animals\",\"asia\",\"eco-tourism\",\"elephant\",\"indochina\",\"laos\",\"wildlife\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Animals\",\"Eco-tourism\",\"Laos\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/\",\"name\":\"Elephant encounters on elephant terms - staging\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-13T12:51:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-11T14:37:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"A visit to MandaLao in Laos, where elephants are rescued from riding camps and given sanctuary, and tourists interact with them on their own terms\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1\",\"width\":1934,\"height\":1500,\"caption\":\"Mother and daughter, MandaLao\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Elephant encounters on elephant terms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/\",\"name\":\"Travel with me\",\"description\":\"Travel snapshots from Toonsarah\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c1f55541a1f1dc72c35144e26c13dfb5\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c1f55541a1f1dc72c35144e26c13dfb5\",\"name\":\"Sarah Wilkie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/cropped-Toonsarah-Logo-13.jpg?fit=1128%2C546&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/cropped-Toonsarah-Logo-13.jpg?fit=1128%2C546&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/cropped-Toonsarah-Logo-13.jpg?fit=1128%2C546&ssl=1\",\"width\":1128,\"height\":546,\"caption\":\"Sarah Wilkie\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/cropped-Toonsarah-Logo-13.jpg?fit=1128%2C546&ssl=1\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/toonsarah-travels.blog\\\/staging\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/toonsarah\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Elephant encounters on elephant terms - staging","description":"A visit to MandaLao in Laos, where elephants are rescued from riding camps and given sanctuary, and tourists interact with them on their own terms","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Elephant encounters on elephant terms - staging","og_description":"A visit to MandaLao in Laos, where elephants are rescued from riding camps and given sanctuary, and tourists interact with them on their own terms","og_url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/","og_site_name":"staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/toonsarah","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/toonsarah","article_published_time":"2020-09-13T12:51:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-11T14:37:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1934,"height":1500,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sarah Wilkie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah Wilkie","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/"},"author":{"name":"Sarah Wilkie","@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c1f55541a1f1dc72c35144e26c13dfb5"},"headline":"Elephant encounters on elephant terms","datePublished":"2020-09-13T12:51:23+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-11T14:37:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/"},"wordCount":996,"commentCount":19,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c1f55541a1f1dc72c35144e26c13dfb5"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1","keywords":["animals","asia","eco-tourism","elephant","indochina","laos","wildlife"],"articleSection":["Animals","Eco-tourism","Laos"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/","url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/","name":"Elephant encounters on elephant terms - staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1","datePublished":"2020-09-13T12:51:23+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-11T14:37:52+00:00","description":"A visit to MandaLao in Laos, where elephants are rescued from riding camps and given sanctuary, and tourists interact with them on their own terms","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1","width":1934,"height":1500,"caption":"Mother and daughter, MandaLao"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/elephant-encounters-on-elephant-terms\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Elephant encounters on elephant terms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/","name":"Travel with me","description":"Travel snapshots from Toonsarah","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c1f55541a1f1dc72c35144e26c13dfb5"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c1f55541a1f1dc72c35144e26c13dfb5","name":"Sarah Wilkie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cropped-Toonsarah-Logo-13.jpg?fit=1128%2C546&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cropped-Toonsarah-Logo-13.jpg?fit=1128%2C546&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cropped-Toonsarah-Logo-13.jpg?fit=1128%2C546&ssl=1","width":1128,"height":546,"caption":"Sarah Wilkie"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cropped-Toonsarah-Logo-13.jpg?fit=1128%2C546&ssl=1"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/toonsarah"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09-0032-Lao-P1230576-MandaLao-V-large.jpg?fit=1934%2C1500&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1849,"url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/the-palace-of-bundi-kiplings-work-of-goblins\/","url_meta":{"origin":806,"position":0},"title":"The Palace of Bundi: Kipling’s ‘work of goblins\u2019","author":"Sarah Wilkie","date":"November 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2018The Palace of Bundi, even in broad daylight, is such a palace as men built for themselves in uneasy dreams, the work of goblins rather than of men.\u2019 So said Rudyard Kipling of Bundi Palace. Also known as Garh Palace, it was home to the rulers of Bundi for centuries.","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/category\/themes\/architecture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lake with palace on the hill beyond","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bundi-14-Nawal-Sagar-Blog.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bundi-14-Nawal-Sagar-Blog.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bundi-14-Nawal-Sagar-Blog.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bundi-14-Nawal-Sagar-Blog.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bundi-14-Nawal-Sagar-Blog.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5762,"url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/gallery-emerging-into-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":806,"position":1},"title":"Gallery: emerging into life","author":"Sarah Wilkie","date":"April 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Wildlife photography isn\u2019t all about those \u2018ah, how cute\u2019 moments, but there are plenty of them to be discovered, nevertheless. And never more so than when photographing animal babies. These adorable animals play on our evolutionary desires to care for the young and helpless of our own species. I try\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 22 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 22 comments","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/gallery-emerging-into-life\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three lion cubs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Feature-P1140576.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Feature-P1140576.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Feature-P1140576.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Feature-P1140576.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Feature-P1140576.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5253,"url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/he-keepeth-a-great-court-fatehpur-sikri\/","url_meta":{"origin":806,"position":2},"title":"‘He keepeth a great court’: Fatehpur Sikri","author":"Sarah Wilkie","date":"March 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"There is something about a tale of a deserted city that tugs at the imagination. Here on this rocky ridge near Agra in Uttar Pradesh, the third Mughal emperor Akbar built a new capital: the walled city of Fatehpur Sikri, the \u2018City of Victory\u2019. But soon after its completion he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/category\/themes\/architecture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red sandstone palace buildings and pool","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/001-Feature-P1130192.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/001-Feature-P1130192.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/001-Feature-P1130192.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/001-Feature-P1130192.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/001-Feature-P1130192.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4753,"url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/a-village-blacksmith-in-the-lao-highlands\/","url_meta":{"origin":806,"position":3},"title":"A village blacksmith in the Lao highlands","author":"Sarah Wilkie","date":"March 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The scent of wood smoke hangs in the air. Children play in the dusty soil. Small pigs, chickens and dogs wander at will between the wooden houses. And inside one a blacksmith is at work, shaping a machete over glowing coals. This is Phou Taen Khamu, home to some of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture & tradition"","block_context":{"text":"Culture & tradition","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/category\/themes\/people\/culture-tradition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blacksmith crouching","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Feature-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C875&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Feature-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C875&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Feature-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C875&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Feature-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C875&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Feature-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C875&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2506,"url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/around-the-world-in-ten-photos-day-four-panning-for-gold\/","url_meta":{"origin":806,"position":4},"title":"Around the world in ten photos: day four","author":"Sarah Wilkie","date":"December 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A woman crouches beside the fast-flowing river, panning for gold. Hers is a simple life in a rural village, but success here could change it forever.","rel":"","context":"In "Laos"","block_context":{"text":"Laos","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/category\/destinations\/asia\/laos\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woman crouching by a river panning for gold","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/11-0038-Lao-P1230822-Blog.jpg?fit=916%2C685&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/11-0038-Lao-P1230822-Blog.jpg?fit=916%2C685&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/11-0038-Lao-P1230822-Blog.jpg?fit=916%2C685&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/11-0038-Lao-P1230822-Blog.jpg?fit=916%2C685&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4895,"url":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/seeing-the-world-in-black-and-white\/","url_meta":{"origin":806,"position":5},"title":"Gallery: Seeing the world in black and white","author":"Sarah Wilkie","date":"March 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The world as we see it is full of colour. So it may seem counter-intuitive to take black and white photos, but by draining an image of colour you can draw attention to its other qualities. Texture, contrasting tones, patterns and shapes can all be more obvious in a monochrome\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My photography"","block_context":{"text":"My photography","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/category\/my-photography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black and white photo of a man in a turban","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/00-feature.jpg?fit=1200%2C954&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/00-feature.jpg?fit=1200%2C954&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/00-feature.jpg?fit=1200%2C954&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/00-feature.jpg?fit=1200%2C954&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/00-feature.jpg?fit=1200%2C954&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3040,"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions\/3040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}