A Day with the Elephants
Have you ever wanted an experience that was on your bucket list so bad that you’re willing to rearrange your whole trip? That was Mary Frances and meeting elephants!
Coffee that Made me Cry
Before the trip, I was dying to fully embrace the coffee and breakfast scene in Chiang Mai. Because it is legendary in the travel community, I had a lengthy list of best coffee and breakfast locations. At dawn, I knew I had to embrace and drink all the coffee.
For my first foray into the coffee scene, I went around the block to Ristro. I was one of the first people in the store and I ordered their best selling drink. Basically, it was an Americano type. I was AMAZED - it was the BEST coffee I have ever had. The flavors were incredibly tasty and I enjoyed every drop!
Saving the Elephants at Elephant Nature Park
For our elephant tour, I heavily researched the correct tour as there are so many places that abuse elephants and cater to the tourist community. From there, I landed on the Elephant Nature Park.
While we traveled 1.5 hours to the elephant sanctuary, we learned all about the elephants through a semi-entertaining safety and history video! For the safety video, while most are really boring, this one was very entertaining. It basically described any situation that we could find with the elephants. If anything went wrong, it showed the elephant kicking us to the moon.
Next, perhaps the saddest yet best part, was the documentary video on the Park. The video provided an in-depth discussion on the history and mission of the park as it turned into a retirement home for the blind, disabled, and broken elephants. Now, each elephant has a new life!
Feeding the Elephants
As soon as we reached the complex, we were in the action - along with 150-200 other people! Instantly, we grabbed our bananas and fruit and started handing it to the hungry elephants. We had to stand 2-3 feet from the railing and allow the elephant’s trunk to reach out for fruit. We were very happy!
Pictures are worth a thousand words!
Learning about the Elephants
After a quick break, we went into the vast fields to learn more about these magnificent creatures. Our first visitor was one of the older elephants in the park, Deepot, at 65 years old. Since the elephant is fairly old, Deepot is relaxed and we were able to feed her a lot of bananas! I think I captured most of MF’s pure love for these awesome animals!
For the elephants, each one is assigned a mahout to monitor, feed, and hangout with the elephant. They are responsible for the well-being of the elephant. They even have to sleep near or with the elephant!
Next, we went to another little elephant family with an older elephant and a young one. The baby elephant ran away, but the baby was also hurt on the leg so that was hard to watch it when all we wanted to do was feed it tasty bananas and fruit! Rather than get a little down, we decided to treat the other elephant. Unlike the other elephant, we had the entertainment of a water hose! The elephant wrapped it around the trunk and started chugging. I didn’t realize how much they could drink!
For our last elephant, we went to another older one. By far, the older elephants are more calm so we enjoy that as we get more one on one time feeding them and more pictures! Unfortunately, I don’t remember their names as the names are unusual and all sound the same!
Break Time!
After a few hours in the sweltering sun, we needed a break, water, and some shade! For our lunch, we had an all you can eat vegetarian buffet. Because they feed the elephants all veggies and fruit, then the humans get the same to help cut the costs and what not and not bring meat into the animal park. I thought it was a fair trade off as everything was tasty and had a little kick!
As we waited for round two this afternoon, we went into the gift shop to search for an unique souvenir. The guide mentioned the elephant’s mahout, the assigned guide, make wooden sculptures of their elephants in order to make a little more money on the side. We obviously bought one, although we struggled to find any of the elephants we saw in the morning.
Bath Time
In the afternoon, the elephants had the best item on the agenda - a bath in the river! In the heat, this was definitely needed! As we gathered around the river, we were a little bored since the elephants were just floating in the river. Then, the real fun began. Similar to a stampede, a group of their mom and two babies heard about bath time.
They were massively playing around in the river, around the riverbank, and just anywhere. Talk about a free show! While they were in the river, I wondered how deep the river was because they were tossing around!
After a hard bath, the elephant herd went under some shade and had an afternoon snack. By afternoon snack, I mean an entire forest. All elephants just kept eating!
Before we ended our elephant safari, we went to the giant viewing platform overlooking the park. Between the great views and watching all the elephants, we are incredibly grateful that we had this experience. Moreover, we are very happy that this park exists for these wonderful elephants (and other animals here!).
The UnChartered Summary
- I cannot recommend the Elephant Nature Park enough! From single day park visit to overnight paying and volunteer opportunities!
- Getting to see these elephants in a very natural, but protected environment is a great experience. We could easily see that the staff card and loved them.
- Definitely bring your camera ready to go - we took over 600 pictures in 1 day and it still feels like it wasn't enough!