Can You Have An Elephant As A Pet?
Today was our super exciting, awesome Elephant Sanctuary day. We woke up early (although we always do) and got breakfast at our hotel. The breakfast wasn't as good as at Railay but it was included in the room so we couldn't argue with the price.
The elephant sanctuary tour is one of the most expensive things we'll do in Thailand but we have been looking forward to it ever since we booked the tickets. The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary company was started in 2015 with just 1 camp of elephants in Northern Thailand. Now there are 9 camps in the North and 3 camps in the South. They help over 150 elephants. All I'm saying is that it's a great cause and we're happy to pay whatever it takes.
A pickup truck outfitted with benches in the truck bed picked us up at our hotel at 7am. We drove around the area and picked up some other people from other hotels as well. There was a youngish couple from Norwich, England who were super nice and fun that got on right after us. We ended up talking with them quite a bit. The truck dropped us off at the camp after only about 30 minutes of driving.
The camp has a few different areas set up. There's a covered area where the elephants sometimes eat if it's raining, There's a big covered area with picnic tables and stuff for us. Lastly, there's two pool areas and a big shower for the elephants.
The elephants at the sanctuary come from 2 main places, either trekking/entertainment or logging. Trekking/entertainment is bad for elephants because it puts a strain on their backs when there shouldn't be and they don't get enough food usually because they're working all the time. Trekking elephants only live to be 30-40 years old. Logging is bad but not as bad. It's still a lot of work and their ears get mangled from being pulled on but elephants live until they are 60-70 years old usually. Out in the wild, however, elephants can live to be 100 years old.
We were some of the very first people to arrive and the workers started to bring elephants over to the camp area from the forest right away. It was awe-inspiring seeing these biggggg animals walking around and flapping their ears. They have very kind eyes. Because we were some of the first people, we got to take some pictures with them, pet them, and hang out privately for a little bit. Eventually, more people came and they started the official program.
There were 2 big stages to our morning. First, we would get some food ready and feed the elephants. Then, we would change into swimsuits and mud bathe/wash the elephants.
A single elephant can eat up to 200 kg (440 lbs) of food a day!!! There were different stations for people to do: cut up watermelons, pull apart bananas, or make mango mash for the really old elephant. We separated bananas and then I carried sugar cane up to the elephants. While we were working, the workers brought about 10 or 11 elephants to an area in the forest for us to feed them and interact with them. The elephant's trunks are very adept at picking up food and small objects. There was a mom and her baby and they were kind of the stars of the show. It was amazing to stand so close to them and even feed them ourselves.
Next, we got into our swimsuits and went with the elephants into a mud bath. This was a blast even though it was kind of gross walking around in the mud. The elephants love the mud because it cools them down so we would grab mud and rub it all over them. After that, the elephants and us moved into a water bath and we splashed the elephants to clean them off. There was one elephant that would like to lay down in a funny way all the time in the water.
That was the last of our time with the elephants but it was a blast. We showered and had massaman curry for lunch. We took the truck back to our hotel and were back by 12pm.
Unfortunately, we didn't have that much else to do that day. We talked about renting motorbikes to drive around the island but our hotel only had 1 to rent and we both wanted one. So we spent most of the day in our hotel looking up what to do in Cambodia, working on blog posts, or scrolling through social media. It ended up being a good thing we didn't rent the motorbike because it rained quite a bit during the day.
To break up the time, we visited a cool coffee shop down the road. We also got dinner at the restaurant right by our hotel. It was fine, not great but served its purpose of eating food haha.
Before I finish this blog, this was our last day in the islands area of Thailand. Check out the map below to get an idea of where we went. We started on the far right at the plane icon in Krabi town. We made our way to Railay then took the speedboat over to big Phuket and watched the sunset. Finally, we visited the elephants today. So there ya go. The island's area wasn't what we had set out for it to be but it was still a super awesome part of our trip.
Early tomorrow morning we are off to Cambodia!
The elephant sanctuary tour is one of the most expensive things we'll do in Thailand but we have been looking forward to it ever since we booked the tickets. The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary company was started in 2015 with just 1 camp of elephants in Northern Thailand. Now there are 9 camps in the North and 3 camps in the South. They help over 150 elephants. All I'm saying is that it's a great cause and we're happy to pay whatever it takes.
A pickup truck outfitted with benches in the truck bed picked us up at our hotel at 7am. We drove around the area and picked up some other people from other hotels as well. There was a youngish couple from Norwich, England who were super nice and fun that got on right after us. We ended up talking with them quite a bit. The truck dropped us off at the camp after only about 30 minutes of driving.
The camp has a few different areas set up. There's a covered area where the elephants sometimes eat if it's raining, There's a big covered area with picnic tables and stuff for us. Lastly, there's two pool areas and a big shower for the elephants.
The elephants at the sanctuary come from 2 main places, either trekking/entertainment or logging. Trekking/entertainment is bad for elephants because it puts a strain on their backs when there shouldn't be and they don't get enough food usually because they're working all the time. Trekking elephants only live to be 30-40 years old. Logging is bad but not as bad. It's still a lot of work and their ears get mangled from being pulled on but elephants live until they are 60-70 years old usually. Out in the wild, however, elephants can live to be 100 years old.
We were some of the very first people to arrive and the workers started to bring elephants over to the camp area from the forest right away. It was awe-inspiring seeing these biggggg animals walking around and flapping their ears. They have very kind eyes. Because we were some of the first people, we got to take some pictures with them, pet them, and hang out privately for a little bit. Eventually, more people came and they started the official program.
There were 2 big stages to our morning. First, we would get some food ready and feed the elephants. Then, we would change into swimsuits and mud bathe/wash the elephants.
A single elephant can eat up to 200 kg (440 lbs) of food a day!!! There were different stations for people to do: cut up watermelons, pull apart bananas, or make mango mash for the really old elephant. We separated bananas and then I carried sugar cane up to the elephants. While we were working, the workers brought about 10 or 11 elephants to an area in the forest for us to feed them and interact with them. The elephant's trunks are very adept at picking up food and small objects. There was a mom and her baby and they were kind of the stars of the show. It was amazing to stand so close to them and even feed them ourselves.
Next, we got into our swimsuits and went with the elephants into a mud bath. This was a blast even though it was kind of gross walking around in the mud. The elephants love the mud because it cools them down so we would grab mud and rub it all over them. After that, the elephants and us moved into a water bath and we splashed the elephants to clean them off. There was one elephant that would like to lay down in a funny way all the time in the water.
That was the last of our time with the elephants but it was a blast. We showered and had massaman curry for lunch. We took the truck back to our hotel and were back by 12pm.
Unfortunately, we didn't have that much else to do that day. We talked about renting motorbikes to drive around the island but our hotel only had 1 to rent and we both wanted one. So we spent most of the day in our hotel looking up what to do in Cambodia, working on blog posts, or scrolling through social media. It ended up being a good thing we didn't rent the motorbike because it rained quite a bit during the day.
To break up the time, we visited a cool coffee shop down the road. We also got dinner at the restaurant right by our hotel. It was fine, not great but served its purpose of eating food haha.
Before I finish this blog, this was our last day in the islands area of Thailand. Check out the map below to get an idea of where we went. We started on the far right at the plane icon in Krabi town. We made our way to Railay then took the speedboat over to big Phuket and watched the sunset. Finally, we visited the elephants today. So there ya go. The island's area wasn't what we had set out for it to be but it was still a super awesome part of our trip.
Early tomorrow morning we are off to Cambodia!
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