Located between two branches of the Serepok River in the province of Dak Lak, the villagers of Buon Don, also called Ban Don, have per-formed numerous elephant weddings.

For many generations the M’Nong have been capturing wild elephants and training them.

Once the elephant has been domesticated, a ceremony is held to admit it as a member of the village. If two of the village elephants fall in love, a wedding ceremony will follow.

Once a male elephant impregnates one of the village females, the owners of the elephants get together to make the proper arrangements for the nuptials.

This starts with the owner of the pregnant female bringing a bowl of rice, a candle and a kreo (a type of hook) to the male owner’s house. The owners then agree on a good date for the wedding.

On the wedding day the owner of the male elephant will bring a pig, a jar of wine, a bowl of rice, a candle and a kreo to the owner of the female elephant to officially ask if his son can have his daughters hoof in marriage.

The two sides then slaughter the pig, dissolve its blood with wine and spread it on the altar, the stone tripot, the pillars of the house and the door as a way to inform and invite the ancestral Kitchen God and House Keeping God to witness the wedding of the two elephants.

After inviting the ancestral gods, the elephant owners spread pig’s blood on the wine jar while praying and wishing for health and happiness for their elephant children’s union.

The female’s owner will then present sticky rice to the male’s owner to initiate the next sequence of the wedding ceremony, which includes more pig blood spreading and prayer.

Upon the conclusion of the ceremony, the villagers officially recognize the elephants as husband and wife.

The village of Buon Don now has nearly 30 elephants being raised by 20 families.

Previously these elephants were trained to carry supplies for the villagers, although nowadays they mostly carry tourists, as the number of visitors to this elephant haven has vastly increased.

Killing trained elephants for their husks or meat is prohibited here.

Visitors to Buon Don have the opportunity to ride the elephants through the impressive forested landscapes.

The elephant trainers are eager to share stories about the elephants with tourists, although their English is limited.

If a visitor is lucky they may actually witness an elephant wedding of the M’Nong while they are in Buon Don.

In addition, at Buon Don visitors will also have a chance not only to enjoy com lam (rice cooked in bamboo pipes) and drink ruou can, a type of wine made from rice or corn, but also see old gongs, jars and tools used to hunt elephants 150 years ago.