HI Fellow members, I posted this on the 26th Feb on the Chiang Mai forum, I have had one response so far and it was fantastic, but I need more contacts for this projects I hope you can help.

I am becoming involved with a project in SE Asia to record the oral history of the Mahouts in Thailand/Laos/Myanmar/Sri Lanka etc. As to how the mahouts train their Asian elephants and see if there is any difference between cultures and ethnicities. We are also going to record inter elephant sounds.

The project is going to take about a year at this stage and is under the guidance of Professor Roger Short of Melbourne University.

The reason for the project is that the Asian Elephant population is on the verge of becoming an extinct species due to deforestation, so when the species die out so do the Mahouts. There is a possibility that could be extinct by the year 2050.

As Prof Short said "the Mahouts are the professors of Natural History without a degree", their knowledge is essential as to why and possibly how we can prevent these beautiful animals from extinction.

What we are wanting is an introduction to people in Thailand that may know Mahouts or where we can contact them to record this valuable history, I was in Chiang Mai 3 years ago & went to the Elephant Hospital and was amazed at the work that they do there.

Due to our small budget we are looking for cheap accommodation when the project gets underway later this year

If you have any contacts it would be greatly appreciated, please email me at

Allblack

Try Ken May, webmaster http://ayutthaya-info.com/index.php?option...12&Itemid=3. He teaches tourism at the uni.

One of his friends is a woman named Margot who worked with horses in Singpore be4 marrying a mahout and becoming one herself.

She knows a lot about the oral history of the Surin mahouts and says they are ?Qi? people from Cambodia.

If you need an interpreter you couldnt get a better one if you can find her.

She could be in Katchanburi if she isnt around Ayutthaya.

If Ken doesn't know where she is Gina at the Morodok Thai guesthouse might.