Before we left England we knew that at sometime during our visit to ChiangMai we would want to spend a day with elephants.
Once here we discovered lots of companies arranging trips to visit or ride elephants. Some are very badly treated and kept just to please the tourists. Even our hotel was trying to convince us to see some elephants that can paint and dance. this was not what I wanted at all.
After much deliberation we chose ChiangMai Elephant Sanctury to see elephants in their natural home. (Chiangmieelephantsanctury.com)
We were collected from our hotel just after 7am. There were already 5 Americans in the pick up truck who we soon got chatting with. After 10 minutes or so the truck stopped and we were asked to get out of the pick up and sit on a seat in front of the sales office. Apparently the Americans had booked a whole day trip and we had only booked a half day trip. It wasn’t long before we were asked to squeeze into a mini bus (comfort and air con – unlike the truck).
Our 90 minute journey began with us squeezed onto the back seat of the mini bus, which had bags of bananas under the seats in front of us, so not much space for our legs or feet. After an hour we had a comfort stop at a road side shack/restuarant. Twenty minutes, To use the toilets. (It certainly didn’t take that long in a very broken down shack, no lock on the door and hole in the floor toilets – don’t forget, toilet paper in bin outside the door and flush the toilet with a saucepan of water from the large bowl next to the toilet) then hurry out for a breathe of fresh air!!
Another 15 minutes and we were there. WEll!!! We were at The top of a long track leading down the mountain side. The strong men were asked to grab a bag of bananas from the bus and the 20 minute downhill trek started.
having crossed the river via 2 bamboo sticks somehow held together we reached a shelter. We were told to leave all our bags there and they would be looked after. It was time to feed the elephants.
First we had to change into the ‘company’ tee shirt, and with that there was a lot of breaking brash and bushes and out popped a herd of five elephants of various sizes. They all sauntered down towards the shelter and politely lined up behind a small wooden fence. We were allowed to freely feed them from a large box of bananas. They all very politely took them with their trunk. One of the ‘Elephant keepers’ told us to use a word which the elephants understood to mean ‘open your mouth’. This enabled us to put the bananas directly into their mouths.
Once the box of bananas had been eaten we where directed to collect our cameras and follow the elephants As they took a stroll through the forest.
This was amazing to watch as they all went their own way and wandered freely. Even though they had just been fed they were very quick to start munching on their favourite leaves. One of the elephants decided the leaves on the top of a tree looked the most appetising.
With no pressure at all he gave the tree trunk a few knocks the the whole thing crashed to the ground. Unhappy that the leaves were still out of his reach the elephant picked the tree trunk up and threw it hard to his left, putting the leaves directly in front of himself. Within minutes he had stripped the leaves, eaten them and was on the search for more.
We followed the elephants for approximately one hour and the keepers then directed them with simple language to gather up and return down the hill to where we had started.
Again the elephants took their space behind the bar and we were told to put on our swim clothes ready to bathe the elephants. We were all given a bowl with a scrubbing brush in and told to go to the nearby river. The elephants were again gently guided by their keepers and joined us in the river.
We were told to throw the water over them to cool them off and slowly the elephants all started to lay down in the water.
The baby elephant who is three years old made herself very comfortable and completely laid in the water.
The eldest elephant who was 40 years old did not come into the river. Apparently it is far too cold for her now. It is winter in ChaingMai even though the temperature is 27 And feeling very warm for us.
We were advised to give the elephants a scrub with the brushes and throw even more water over them.
Next came the commercial photos. Only one elephant was left in the water and we were invited to have a photo taken with him.
Back up to the shack where we were shocked to see the elephants rolling in the sand and dust and spraying it all over themselves (after we had just given them a lovely bath). Apparently they use the dust as we use sun cream, to protect themselves from the sun and to distract the flies.
It was now time for us to say “goodbye” to the elephants and start our trek to the nearby waterfall.
It was only a 10 minute walk down some steep, narrow tracks when we heard the thunder of the waterfall.
The water fall was a good 40 metres tall with the water pouring over the top in several places.
The “guide” that had walked with us suggested we go for a swim in the small lagoon near to where we had left our bags. Once a few people were in the water he led the way round the back of a large rock, along a narrow gorge with a very strong current running against us.
After climbing over some more rocks there was another lagoon into which the waterfall was crashing into.
We were invited to swim but seeing other people being swept round by the strong current we declined this offer and made our way back to the starting point. This was easier with the flow going the same way as ourselves.
time to leave the waterfall and start another adventurous trip up and down narrow tracks. We had another bamboo bridge to cross, this one was held together with cycle chains and crossed a deep ravine over a waterfall.
eventually we opened out into a car park where our mini bus was waiting for us. A short journey back to the shack/restuarant where we were served a traditional Thai lunch of chicken curry, assorted vegetables, with lots of rice. This was followed with slices of watermelon. We were sat overlooking the river and it was fun to see the bamboo rafts coming down the river with their customers sitting in water on the rafts.
Time to take our lent tee shirts off and put dry clothes on. Then it was onto the bus for the return journey. We were dropped off at our hotel about 3.30pm so off course we had to pop straight to the ‘local’ on the opposite side of the road and a lovely refreshing , cool ‘Chang’.
This was certainly a day to remember.
thank you ChaingMai Elephant Sanctuary.
Email katechiangmai@hotmail.com