Chiang Mai - Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

When looking for activities in Thailand, I immediately thought about riding elephants. As I did more research, I learned that the elephants that are ridden are typically abused. Therefore this was not an option for us. But through the research everyone mentioned going to an elephant sanctuary where you get to interact with the elephants more than if you rode them. Done and done. I found the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary online and signed up for a half day excursion.

We were picked up at our hostel and met our excursion group. These people - Joe, Helena, Rianne and Emily - were amazing! All of them had so many adventures and stories and we all clicked.

There was an hour drive to the sanctuary and we stopped at one point for lunch at a gas station. We did not actually eat at the gas station but around the corner was a booth setup. Not sure what were were going to get, we ordered chicken and rice in a sauce. Umm it was great! Probably one of the best meals I've had in all of Thailand because of it's simplicity.

Orientation

After a trip down the road and then a bumpy ride in the jungle, we arrived at camp 5. Driving into the camp there were elephants in a fenced area on our left which we promptly oooed and awwwed over. On the right was a large porch with some lockers where we dropped off our belongings and put on traditional shirts with pockets. I thought the pocket was for my phone but I was corrected during orientation. Orientation was held outside on the porch by a guide that spoke really good English. You could tell that he truly loves the elephants. He spoke about each elephant and where they were rescued from. The oldest elephant had some mental issues but in being at the sanctuary she was recovering. The sanctuary only had female elephants and two of them were pregnant - though I could not tell by looking at them. The pregnant elephants were 3 or 4 years old.

The guide warned us to not get behind an elephant or to touch their legs but everywhere else was fine. He also mentioned that we shouldn't worry about pictures because they have a photographer that would be posting pictures on Facebook. I'm so thankful they did this for us because we were then able to enjoy the experience more.

Bananas!

Our guide told us we were going to feed the elephants and not to worry because they do not have front teeth. What were we going to feed them? We were giving them these tiny little bananas which we can put in the pocket of our shirts. He told us to be careful because the elephants would grab them out of the pocket. He said he didn't know how much they ate but that they ate all the time.

We walked over to the fenced area where 6 elephants greeted us in anticipation of a snack. We fed them bananas to their trunks and in their mouths. Placing a banana in their mouth will ensure that you get licked. They have a massive tongue which will get slobber on your hand. After 4 buckets of bananas, we ran out and the guides brought us bamboo stalks for their next snack.

Bath Time

After snack time, we returned to our lockers and changed into swimsuits for a mud bath. The guide mentioned that some of the mud is actually elephant poop so don't get it in your mouth. But playing in it is perfectly fine. I tried not to think about it too much.

We took a short walk down a hill to a mud pit. Two elephants were already in the mud and two were following us. Everyone was timid at first about putting mud on the elephants and even ourselves. But the guides engage you quickly by throwing mud on you. It's actually very fun! The guide got me a little and then Caleb threw some and got me good. However, I got him back by rubbing it in his hair. He returned the favor eventually though. One elephant got in the mud and started rubbing her back around like a dog does on the carpet. We rubbed mud all over the elephants in the pit and got them good and covered.

Next we headed to the river to clean up ourselves and the elephants. The water was cold but after a while you did not notice because we were having too much fun.

All Good Things Come to an End

After getting the mud washed off and changed back into dry clothes, we had dinner, took a small walk to a waterfall and headed back to Chiang Mai. We all had such a good time together that we met up for some drinks and dancing later that night at Zoe in Yellow. We had such a good time with everyone!