{"id":239,"date":"2015-10-05T09:45:27","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T09:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/explorationsguru\/?p=239"},"modified":"2015-11-10T03:14:37","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T03:14:37","slug":"chiang-mai-elephant-and-tiger-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/explorationsguru\/2015\/10\/05\/chiang-mai-elephant-and-tiger-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiang Mai Elephant and Tiger Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chiang Mai is a northern city in Thailand that is surrounded by tropical jungle and hills. \u00a0One of the most popular tourist activities in Chiang Mai is also one of the most controversial \u2013\u00a0visiting elephants and tigers. \u00a0I was very skeptical about doing this during my most recent trip, but found what we thought were the most ethical options available. \u00a0We decided we would not ride any elephants and only visit a tiger sanctuary that didn\u2019t drug the tigers.<\/p>\n

Now, how did we know any of what the websites advertised to be true? We didn\u2019t. We read reviews and tried to make an educated decisions. \u00a0In the end, I\u2019m not really sure how I feel about the experiences given the conditions many animals are kept in and their use for entertainment. \u00a0I support an organization called Animals Asia, a leading international nonprofit organization based in Hong Kong and primarily focused on rescuing bears, but also focused on animals rights in Asia. \u00a0Here\u2019s a great\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0from the Director of Animal Welfare about Elephants rights. \u00a0You have to decide for yourself if visiting these animals is something you want to do.<\/p>\n

We went to the Rantang elephant center in Chiang Mai where we \u201cvolunteered\u201d with the elephants for a 1\/2 day. The cost was 1800\u00a0baht per person (just over $50 USD per person.) The 1\/2 day consisted of being picked up at the hotel, being taken to the elephant camp about 1 hour outside of the city centre, changing into borrowed clothing that the camp gives you for the day, getting sugar cane, feeding the elephants the sugar cane, watching the elephants walk around a field, walking the elephants to the water hole and \u201cbathing\u201d them and then returning to the main camp area for a Thai \u201clunch\u201d before heading back to the hotel.\"Elephants<\/a><\/p>\n

I love elephants, they are amazing creatures, and look forward to seeing them on an African safari next year, however, seeing them at an elephant camp wasn\u2019t at all what I expected. \u00a0They were big (even the babies), pushy and really wanted to the sugar cane so at times it felt overwhelming. I gave my sugar cane to a friend so the elephants would leave me alone. \u00a0They were much more smelly than I\u2019d imagined (my friends were lucky that they were sick and couldn\u2019t really smell anything that day.) They were also much dirtier than I\u2019d expected. I don\u2019t know why I thought they\u2019d be cleaner, but, they weren\u2019t. \u00a0I decided to just hang around and take lots of photos.<\/p>\n

Rantang offers bareback elephant rides, though our program didn\u2019t offer that option, thank goodness, because I don\u2019t think elephants should be rides. If you want to take a ride, there\u2019s a\u00a0water park<\/a>\u00a0with slides nearby that you can check out. That\u2019s my opinion and you may not agree, but ultimately, I was disappointed\u00a0in Rantang elephant center.<\/p>\n

The second day in Chiang Mai we spent visiting the Tiger Kingdom, the largest most well known Tiger centre in the area. \u00a0Again, I had mixed feelings about the tiger visit. \u00a0 One thing I noticed off the bat was how bad the smell was outside of the \u201cpark\u201d but once inside the smell was not as noticeable. \u00a0You can choose what size tigers you want to visit with. We went with the very small, small and large package and paid extra for a photographer to join us and provide digital im\"11200885_830287043706235_7184349880724725196_n\"ages for us.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t like having the tigers behind me. I felt very uncomfortable when I couldn\u2019t see where the tigers were. \u00a0I supposed that\u2019s natural. \u00a0There was only one moment where I actually felt scared and was startled by the tigers. \u00a0I found the tigers to be amazingly beautiful and seeing them was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. \u00a0I\u2019m quite glad I didn\u2019t do any research before visiting the park because had I read some of the stories or realized there have been at least 5 documented\u00a0maulings, I might not have gone. \u00a0 There are some documentaries about the various tiger facilities in Thailand and I\u2019d suggest watching them or reading some of the reviews before deciding if you want to visit.<\/p>\n

A competitor of Tiger Kingdom, Tiger Temple, was shut down in April of 2015 for keeping animals without permits. The closure came after\u00a0\u00a0multiple\u00a0complaints of trafficking endangered species, illegally selling animals and possible mistreatment of the animals. The 147 tigers there were being turned over to the Thailand\u00a0Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.<\/p>\n

After having visited the elephant and tiger centers in Chiang Mai, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll visit those types of facilities again in the future. \u00a0I would prefer to see animals in the wild, in their own habitats and not in captivity where they are obviously \u00a0focused on money making and welfare of animals.<\/p>\n

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