Out of all the things we did in Chiang Mai, going to Baan Chang Elephant Park was by far the best. Not only did we get to ride and wash the elephants, but we also learned about their lifestyles, how to care for them and many other educational tidbits of information. Out of all the elephant experiences available, we were so glad that we chose this one!
We got picked up at 9am and went to buy fruit for the elephants. At the fruit stalls we learned about what fruits are good and not so good for the elephants. (Green bananas are bad, yellow bananas are good) Then we were off to the park, where we had a brief orientation.
After that we got to feed the elephants.
We were able to approach any elephant that we wanted and feed them as much as we wanted until all the food was gone. Since there were only 14 people in our group, we had plenty of time and opportunity.
Next, we were instructed on how to mount an elephant and we all got to practice.
Then we got to practice steering the elephants while riding them.
After practicing, we got lunch and then we took a couple hour elephant ride on a mountain path. The elephant that Trip and I were assigned to was named Dancing Queen. She is the one we practiced on and she got her name because when she is standing still or gets bored she starts dancing. We don't have any pictures of our mountain trek or the bathing because we decided to leave the camera behind. We didn't want anything to happen to it.
We had such a good experience; we would recommend this park to anyone!
So cool! Looks like a lot of fun and I'm jealous because one of my life goals is to ride an elephant! Did you get to keep those outfits you were wearing?
ReplyDeleteKim, I love those pictures of you atop the elephant! So beautiful! So, what did it feel like to ride the animal? I love looking at horses, but I find the ride always rather sore on my buttox! I'm wondering if elephants are just as bumpy...?
ReplyDeleteLeslie - It was a ton of fun, but sadly, we did not get to keep the outfits.
ReplyDeleteMetta - It actually was such a weird feeling. You are so high off the ground and you don't really feel secure. There isn't much to hold on to and at first it seemed pretty easy to just slide right off the side :) Elephants aren't quite as bumpy as horses; they sway more than bounce. But they are not really soft either, so after a couple hours, I was still sore!