LIVING WITH ELEPHANTS

U Myo Aung, 48, is employed by the government as a mahout at an elephant camp in Bago region in eastern Myanmar. Sitt Khaing Hla is the 24-year-old female elephant in his care. The two have developed a close relationship in the past ten years of working together. Now, at the end of the dry season, the water level at the bathing pond is getting low. Everyone – humans and pachyderms – is looking forward to the rains. U Myo Aung’s son July Myo is hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps and contribute to his family’s meagre income. In a few years he will start taking care of Sitt Khaing Hla’s little elephant son. ‘When I start working, Mum can relax’, hopes July Myo.