Come Along [6] - Baby Elephants at the Jungle Sanctuary

Elephants are such majestic giants. In the past I had my first encounter with an elephant at a Thailand animal show as a child. I still remember being picked up and held up high by its trunk just laughing my ears off. I used to think about how great to ride on the back of an elephant parading around the jungle just like in the movies. Now learning about how damaging this is to them, I’m glad there are other ways that we can enjoy our time with these amazing creatures that doesn’t hurt them.

In Chiang Mai there are many companies offering a full day or half day elephant experience. We chose the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. Instead of riding on their backs your spend this time taking care and playing with them. In the morning a car came to pick us up where we were transported to the hillsides near the city. Upon arrival we put on our caretaker outfits and sat down to learn about elephants.

So a lot of the elephants in the sanctuary were from nearby villages. The owners loved their elephants but they would get too big and start eating and destroying the fields, forcing them to either have to sell them to companies to work in logging, tourist enjoyment or be put down. Unlike horses elephant’s backs are curved and not designed for riding. Seven hours a day or carrying hundreds of pounds of weight on their back and walking around all week, many of the elephants would be injured or and have their backs broken and eventually be put down. It’s a sad fate and nothing like what we imagine. When the elephant sanctuaries started gaining popularity it was great for the owners because now they know their elephants would be taken care of and have a good life.

After learning about the elephants we were given some corn to feed them. Lucky for us there was a 11 day old baby elephant prancing around! For the adults they can eat the corn with the husk whole but babies need to have the husk peeled off. It was so cute running around between the moms legs popping out to approach us and get some food. I was peeling as fast as I could to feed him while he was reaching out his trunk to the corn in my hands.

Once feeding was done it was time for a bath. A mud bath actually. We headed down to a mud pool and the elephants started coating themselves in mud one by one. I think we should have had a bath before the meal because a lot took this opportunity to take a poop in the mud with us in it. Good thing we headed to the river after this to rinse all the “mud” off. It was really fun splashing the elephants with water and watching them roll around.

Then it was time for us to get cleaned up under the showers they have provided and we refueled with a lunch. For our going away present we received these small cute side bags that I ended up using for most of my trip! The whole experience was very relaxing and enjoyable. I’m glad we were able to have this elephant experience. I highly recommend it. Be sure to add this to your list if you’re in Thailand for some unforgettable memories.

Thanks for Coming Along!
See you again in Pt 7!

Xoxo SteemIt - Lilan

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Pt 1-Follow Your Heart
Pt 2- A Contrast in Realities
Pt 3- The Most Dangerous Market in Thailand
Pt 4- Overnight Train to Chiang Mai
Pt 5- Ancient Chiang Mai