An AMAZING day with Elephants!!!!
I woke up eager to go play with elephants! We hoped in a songthew and drove 1.5 hours northwest, farther and farther into the jungle and higher and higher up into the mountains. The ride got quite bumpy - it had rained really hard the day prior and the road, which was already a one lane gig, was now thick mud - almost like clay. Chiang Mai Elephant Land - AMAZING.
The truck driver didn't have a choice but to slide into the ruts that we were sucked into. I was curious to know if we would be pushing this thing back out of here! LOL.
We arrived at the Elephant Land where there were 18 of us on the day's tour. We walked into an area where there was fresh fruit and drinks set out for us. The elephants, all 5 of them, were mere yards away from us. Not on chains, not tied to anything - simply chilling in the fenced area (LARGE area). Shortly after, we were given 'uniforms' to wear over our swimsuits,
given a big basket of bananas and shown how to feed the elephants - up close and personal right away!!! BAAN BAAN - means banana in Thai - so if feeding them directly into their mouth (versus to the trunk) we were just to say BAAN BAAN! and they would open their mouths. And they did!!!! Through the course of the day, we went on a 2 hour jungle hike right with the elephants. Then we had an amazing Thai Lunch, followed by hopping into a huge mud puddle with 5 large elephants, where we were to scoop in, grab the mucky-mud and throwing it onto the elephants, then rubbing it in. From there, we all marched out of the mud hole, then climbed up a VERY COLD stream to a waterfall. Moments after we got to the falls to get the mud off ourselves, we were joined once again by 5 elephants. It was an EPIC EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!! Such an amazing day - I will let the pictures do the justice for this amazing day!
I want an elephant for Christmas.
The truck driver didn't have a choice but to slide into the ruts that we were sucked into. I was curious to know if we would be pushing this thing back out of here! LOL.
We arrived at the Elephant Land where there were 18 of us on the day's tour. We walked into an area where there was fresh fruit and drinks set out for us. The elephants, all 5 of them, were mere yards away from us. Not on chains, not tied to anything - simply chilling in the fenced area (LARGE area). Shortly after, we were given 'uniforms' to wear over our swimsuits,
given a big basket of bananas and shown how to feed the elephants - up close and personal right away!!! BAAN BAAN - means banana in Thai - so if feeding them directly into their mouth (versus to the trunk) we were just to say BAAN BAAN! and they would open their mouths. And they did!!!! Through the course of the day, we went on a 2 hour jungle hike right with the elephants. Then we had an amazing Thai Lunch, followed by hopping into a huge mud puddle with 5 large elephants, where we were to scoop in, grab the mucky-mud and throwing it onto the elephants, then rubbing it in. From there, we all marched out of the mud hole, then climbed up a VERY COLD stream to a waterfall. Moments after we got to the falls to get the mud off ourselves, we were joined once again by 5 elephants. It was an EPIC EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!! Such an amazing day - I will let the pictures do the justice for this amazing day!
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| Baby - she's 2 years old. Average lifespan: 90 years |
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| Starting our jungle walk |
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| She snuck up on me repeatedly through the day - it was adorable |
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| BAAN BAAN! |
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| They knew right where to go to find more bananas |
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| One of the guides found a spider and after asking him 30 times to see if it FOR SURE was not poisonous, he assured me it was all good as he put the thing on his face. |
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| Making a bamboo cup |
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| Sensitive skin doesn't like jungle bugs |
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| Right in front of her face |
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| She went to sit down in the waterfalls and I was literally backed into the falls...lol |
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| WATERFIGHT! And Elephant OUT |
I want an elephant for Christmas.
Amanda, I loved, loved, loved looking through all your pics. I especially love the one of you walking on the log and the little one is on your left side by you. I loved the waterfall pics. And, it all just looks so wonderful. What a super, wonderful experience. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the land across the water. Love ya. Sharon
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