Playtime with Elephants in Chiang Mai

Woke up early the next day to go to Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. I am not particular with the details, but Dona booked us online for this trip the night before. Of course, we wanted to see elephants, too! And it even made me more excited to learn that I could actually interact with them through these elephant sanctuaries in Chiang Mai. There are other places in Thailand where you can see elephants, but the one we went to do not commercialize the elephants. Instead, they allow tourists in the camps so they can earn funds to buy food for these big mammals.

At around 7 in the morning, we were picked up at our street by a vehicle from the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, and together with other people who were picked up along the way, we traveled for about an hour to the camp.

Mama and baby elephant

To interact with the elephants, we were asked to feed them. But before this seemingly calm moment captured in the photo below, this mama elephant went running towards us while we were waiting for them to be brought in the 'playing' ground. The staff of the camp said it was because she spotted the food (bananas and sugarcane) right behind us, so she went running towards it. It did scare us because we thought she was on attack mode. But once she was calmed down, we were able to feed her and the other elephants peacefully.

And boy, are they huge eaters. They never stopped eating! Actually, one of the reasons why the camp accepts visitors is to be able to fund the food for the elephants. These were once captured elephants but the camp was able to rescue them and now they are living free in the jungle, but are surviving with the help of the camp staff and donors. Elephants eat tons of bananas and sugarcane daily, thus, the camp relies on donors and the money from visitors fees to be able to feed all of the elephants in the camp. The sanctuary had I think over 10 elephants. We were able to play with 4 of them–3 adult elephants and 1 baby elephant na makulit. We had to wear the same clothes the Karen tribe wear so as not to confused the elephants. That's because they are the ones usually taking care of them. 

I also got to hug and kiss mama elephant. She was trained, so the caretaker just says the 'keyword' and she will wrap her trunk around the person. The magic word for kiss is "chup chup", and she will kiss you right smack in the face, it's just like your face is being vacuumed. Good thing her breathe smells like bananas.

After feeding them, we went down to the creek beside the camp, this time to bathe them. 

Kaya kami balot na balot because we did not bring swimwear because we weren't sure if we're going to push through with this activity. And also tamad me usually just packs enough clothes and will just make do with whatever I packed have we decided to do away with our initial itinerary. Before this, we were at the paddies, spreading mud all over them elephants, however, stubborn big mammals, wanted to go to the water immediately haha.

We had lunch right there, the most delicious pad Thai I had during this trip because their version of the dish was so simple yet tasty.

There are also goods sold in there, different products woven by the Karens living in the community.

After having lunch, we traveled back, most of the travel time I spent taking naps despite the bumpy ride and the hot afternoon sun directly striking half my body because I was sitting at the end seat of the pick-up. When we got home later, half my legs (the one exposed to the sun during the trip) was tanned.


Elephant Jungle Sanctuary
Ethical Elephant Adventures
119/10 Thapae Rd., Chang Klan, Muang, Chiang Mai 50100 Thailand
www.elephantjunglesanctuary.com
elephant.ejs@gmail.com
+6653 273 415 / +6683 562 4263