Elephant Love!

24.02.2009

It was our third day in Chiang Mai today and we went on an elephant trek with Patara Elephant farm. I researched this farm before we left for Thailand because we are all animal lovers and we wanted to make sure that none of the elephants were being abused. This is the most well known and well most expensive elephant farm you can go to. It was $5800 baht which equals around $200.00 CAD for the full day training course, meals and the best experience that I have ever had!

The day started really early, at 7.30am when the Patara bus picked us up from our hotel. This was nice because they can pick up from any hotel in Chiang Mai and it saves you a drive. The only thing is that they don’t serve you breakfast, so you need to grab something before you go. On the ride to the farm they told us all about Patara Farm, how the day camp works and about their breeding program. We talked for about an hour once we got there about the elephants, how to approach them and to safely be around them. We then went for a walk to the field where the elephants eat in the morning, so our first view of them was in the wild. Next they showed us how to approach them and then all the different ways to get on the elephant! My favorite was when you get to step on the trunk and sort of get thrown on!

Next it was bath time, so we went for a walk to the river to and helped bath the elephants. Just so you know this is the reason you should bring a change of clothes and wear your bathing suit to go to the farm.
My favorite part of the day however was the beautiful trek that we got to take at the end of the day. We got to use our new found skills of riding the elephant to ride to the top of a high hill. We stopped in the middle of a valley by a beautiful little pond and we had a BBQ lunch. They give you time to have a picture taken with your elephant, and of course you can take pictures all throughout the day.

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