A date to remember ... Elephant Polo Festival 2011

Elephant polo can be a head-to-head battle, literally.

They say an elephant never forgets. I don't know why or how that expression came about, but here's something that you will never forget ... watching your first elephant polo tournament.

(This reminds me of the joke about the Irish polo team -- sadly their horses drowned!)

The highly popular King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament will be celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and will return to where it started in 2001: the royal seaside town of Hua Hin.  Over the recent years it has been staged at the Anantara Golden Triangle Resort.


Picture if you will -- or if you can -- two teams of tuskers going head to head, egged on by their mahouts, with the players wielding super-long polo mallets and trying to strike the ball downfield into the opposition's goal. The things people will do in the name of charity (and Gins and Tonics!)


Having played a chukka or two of this over the years, it's adrenaline inducing to be in charge of several tons of mammoth mammal as it pounds its way down the field. 

You end up with inner thighs chafed raw, blistered hands, plus a raging headache -- and that's just from the sponsor's party, jing jing.


12 teams from four continents, encompassing 40 players from at least 15 countries take part in this week-long ele-festival. Talk about a jumbo-sized spectacle. And all the proceeds go to benefitting Asian elephants, so it's a good laugh for a good cause.


For more info, see www.anantaraelephantpolo.com

PS: Oops - forget to tell you the dates: September 5 to September 11 2011