Most of you know that DawnO has a bucket list that seems to grow at the same rate we check things off. When I began planning her birthday trip, it was the first thing I looked at for inspiration. It is quite an eclectic list but there was one item in particular that stuck out:
- snuggle a baby elephant
This is how I decided on Thailand. This country has many Elephant Sanctuaries to choose from, although none would guarantee an “X” on DawnO’s list.
I booked an overnight trip that promised a home stay at a local Karen village, a hike to a waterfall and exclusive time with the elephants without the crowd that comes with the 1 day tour. We were quick to discover that the online description was not exactly what we would get. The “home stay at a local Karen village” turned out to be a group camp with 11 other tourists. The furthest we would ever hike was about 200 meters between our truck and a lunch site with other tour groups. This was slightly disappointing but the experience with the animals was still worth it.
We spent day one with about 25 other people interacting with a family of 6 elephants. There were 2 younger elephants (named Lady GaGa and Rhiana), but both were a bit big for a proper snuggle. We fed them bananas, sugar cane and “medicine” made up of bananas and rice. DawnO and I each got a kiss from and elephant, which is about as weird as a giraffe kiss. Basically the elephant uses his trunk to suck on your cheek making the sound of a raspberry while leaving behind a slobbery wet spot.
Next on the itinerary was a mud bath followed by a rinse in the nearby creek.
The evening group camp was not too far from the elephant camps. We were able to escape the others and do some exploring while our delicious Thai food was being prepared.
Day 2 involved a trip to another elephant camp which included the mud baths. Afterwards we went to a cascading river (I think this was supposed to be the “waterfall”) for lunch and then spent some time with an elephant away from the large crowds. This girl was a hugger.
Our tour was almost over but we had one last stop to make before we headed back in to Chiang Mai…
…meet Charlie
This handsome young man is a 1 month old male that was shy at first, but eventually warmed up to a snuggle.
- snuggle a baby elephant X
Awesome!! Would you rather snuggle with Charlie or eat durian every day for a month?! 😝