Chiang Mai is well know for a lot of things. There are a lot of amazing traditional dishes, coffee, sites, walls and elephant sanctuaries. For this post, I will be focusing on one of my experiences in Chang Siam - an amazing elephant park.
"Our elephant park is located in the heart of natural forest which is a proper habitat environment for elephants to live happily."
There are a lot of companies offering the same experience. But what I really like about Chang Siam is that you are able to interacts with the elephants in their natural habitat. It took us a while to look for a good company that offers this service. First and foremost, I am against riding the elephants through their trunk or even in their backs.
The forest is actually a bit far from the main city, it probably took us about 30 minutes to reach the place. Lunch is also included in the package and we had an amazing meal near a river. It was very refreshing to hear the sound of the stream as you enjoy your food. Also, there are people who can opt to stay really near the river and the restaurant has some kind of zip line (for food) to give you your orders. It was very cool!
After lunch, it was finally time to meet the elephants! It was only fair that we start with feeding them. It was a very surreal experience. Here's me being very fearless (doesn't happen much).
After feeding the elephants, you get to experience trekking with them through the mountains. I would just have to say, it didn't go as planned. They are really scary when they're hungry. They eat the plants! They would even stomp on tall plants just to eat it. Oh, I also got hit on the face with an elephant's tail. I'm very offended, do I look like a freaking fly?
By the end of the trek, you get to see the mud bath. And let's just say things get messy real fast. So after that, it's bath time with the elephants at the nearby river! I get to enjoy this a lot, I mean just look at how smiley I was in this picture!
The experience was amazing and I was so happy to be able to interact with these gentle giants. Let me know your experience with them or if you give this a try!