“Chaba is a true water baby!”The moment Chaba, a baby elephant, touched her toes in a small plastic tub filled with fresh water, it was a completely new and exciting experience for her.

Chaba was born into captivity at an elephant riding camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Her mother, BunMa, was forced to perform daily shows for tourists, including riding a bike, painting pictures, and performing circus tricks.

However, Chaba’s fate would have been the same as her mother’s if it weren’t for Save Elephant Foundation’s intervention.

“When our team learned about the plight of Chaba and her mother, BunMa, we visited the camp to see how we could help them,” Ry Emmerson, projects director at Save Elephant Foundation, told The Dodo. “We found the mother and baby living in a small concrete pen, deprived of any enrichment, and the mother chained up. It was immediately clear that they were both in poor health and needed urgent intervention.”

Save Elephant Foundation founder negotiated the release of the family and rescued them in August. Although the rescuers had planned to transport them by truck to Elephant Nature Park (ENP), BunMa was afraid that she would be separated from her baby and refused to get into the vehicle.

“We decided it was safer for them to walk to our sanctuary,” Emmerson said. “After two hours of walking, they arrived at ENP and were welcomed with an elephant cake.”

After eating her cake, Chaba enjoyed her first bath. Everyone was surprised by the look of pure delight on the four-month-old elephant’s face.

“Chaba is a true water baby!” Emmerson said. “She loved splashing around in the water and then running back to her mum for reassurance. Now, she loves to play in the splash pool with her basketball while her mum enjoys some tasty fruit treats.”

Chaba and her mum are now living a life of freedom, socializing with other elephants, foraging for food, and rolling around in mud puddles.

But nothing makes Chaba happier than her little pool.