Regular readers of my blog will know that one of my travel highlights was spending two days amongst the elephants at Elephant Village, Laos in 2010.

Elephant Village is an eco-centre where all the resident elephants have been rescued from a life of hard work and mistreatment in the logging industry.

There they are cared for wonderfully and each elephant forms an unbreakable bond with their mahout (keeper/trainer).

I was due to return this October with Mrs Wilbur, but sadly my illness in Siem Reap put paid to this.

When I got to Luang Prabang eventually however, I popped into the Elephant Village office to say hi. Whilst there I heard the sad news that Mira, the blind female elephant that I had a short-term bond with five and a half years earlier, had passed away. Happily her son is thriving in the village and Mira’s mahout has a new charge to look after.

Here are a few pictures from those memorable days in 2010……