We love to visit the elephants and tigers even though we've seen them before.....We love to do the touristy stuff and visit the elephants in their camps, even though we've seen them many times before. Most of the animals in Thailand have been put out of work because teak wood logging is now banned. The camps are a way to raise money to keep these wonderful creatures and to publicise their plight. The nearest to Chiang Mai is Maesa
Elephant Camp, about 30 minutes drive from Chiang Mai, in Mae
Rim district. 70 or 80 pachyderms live there with their mahouts and
they
perform 3 shows each day, at 8am, 9.40 and 1.30pm. The animals play
football, demonstrate their logging skills and paint a variety of
pictures during these shows. Afterwards they mingle with the public and
give rides to those who want them.
All this for a very reasonable price - a really good day out for all the family - recommended highly. A way further up the road is Mae Taeng Elephant Park, about 50 km from the city. At about 9.30am you can watch the elephants bathing. This is one of the highlights of their day and they obviously enjoy it. A short show comes next, with the animals showing their logging, football and dancing skills and after that, a ride through the jungle to a Lisu village and a ride back in an ox-cart.
By that time we're always looking forward to the lunch provided, because this is always excellent. With lunch over, it's time for the raft ride down the river, which takes about an hour. One of the Lisu guides poles us down the crocodile infested river (not really, I'm joking) and points out the various points of interest on the way. Sometimes, he lets you pole it yourself, but this should be avoided if you don't want to end up in the river. This is a really good day out and is thoroughly recommended for those who like a bit more participation and interaction with the pachyderms. By the way, the pictures above are of Helen and I with some friends on our last visit.
On another day, you must be sure to visit the Tiger
Kingdom
in Mae Rim, about 20 minutes from the city. The tigers there are so
tame that visitors are allowed to sit with them in their cages and have
photographs taken with them. My grandsons were enthralled by this and
stroked the tigers and didn't want to leave. Of course tigers are a
protected species; too few are left in the wild now, so it's good to
see these being looked after and well treated, even though some people
object to them being caged. Better to be caged than dead is my view,
for what it's worth.
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The animals don't work much in the afternoon because of the heat, but
if you get there early enough in the morning, you can watch them bathe.
Whatever you do, don't flash any bananas about because the animals will
pick your pockets and steal them. What do you call an elephant that
steals your bananas? "Sir" of course!
If you don't fancy the elephant and ox-cart rides, you can always have
a relaxing
Thai style massage from
their resident masseuse.
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