Last Updated on June 24, 2019 by PowersToTravel
I hardly want to write words to describe our elephant experience in Chiang Mai. I feel the pictures show the happiness and the excitement! However, I’ll give it a try. The elephants deserve it.
To anyone hesitating, wondering about the safety, and the ethics of elephant tourism, just do it with Chiang Mai Tour Center.
The tour center brought our family by mini-van out to a small compound in the jungle hills near Chiang Mai. We were instructed to change into the official mahoot outfits for the experience. The compound had several changing rooms, complete with a very large spider, so the excitement engulfed us from the start.
“MOOOOOOMMMMMM” screamed nine-year old Donevan.
“Oh what is it!” yelled back Vanessa, mid dressing.
“There’s a HUGE spider. I won’t go in there! Let me in to yours!”
It took Donevan the longest to dress in his new mahoot outfit. Part of the problem was the spider. The other part was the fact that we hadn’t seen Donevan in a couple of years.
“What size outfit should we bring for him?” asked Nart, one of the Chiang Mai Tour Center owners, the day before.
“He’s nine.”
“How big is nine?”
“He’s nine,” was all we could say.
So they brought several. It took Donevan a few tries to find the right one.
The real mahoots taught us how the prepare the elephant food: how to make the tamarind medicine ball, full of vitamins, how to bash the bamboo to make it easier to eat. We each prepared a bucket of food for our elephant.
They drove us in a truck a very short distance to the feeding station. We each scrambled to find “our” bucket in the back of the truck, then realized it didn’t matter a bit which bucket we took.
We waited in the little pavilion, and suddenly out of the brush the elephants sauntered over. Sauntered isn’t the right word. Hmmm, they didn’t “rush” because they didn’t make us feel uncomfortable, but they were obviously very happy with the prospect of food. They stood impatiently at the railing and waved their trunks around enthusiastically, trying to reach our buckets before we could even feed them.
Each elephant ate differently. Mine grabbed the bamboo with the “wrist” of her trunk in a sort of twisting fashion, as if she were eating behind her back. Greg’s was more straightforward and used the tips of her trunk as soft and moist fingers. The most extraordinary thing was the vacuum effect their trunks were capable of as they tried to suck up the pellets we were given to feed them.
It was a mad scene as we tried to capture it with our cameras, and simultaneously not get too slobbered on, or get in the way of the waving trunks. Finally, the elephants settled down, and we were encouraged to rub their trunks and foreheads, and get our pictures taken with them. Oh, the elephants were so huge, their heads hairy and their trunks leathery and coarse. I could have stayed there forever.
Then it was time to ride the elephants. We walked a short distance downhill to the river where a wooden stand had been constructed. So that answers that question – you simply climb the steps and walk out on top of the elephant. Several official mahoots assisted us in getting settled on our elephant. Makayla was given the option of riding a smaller elephant, and she would have to climb up. Better a teenager than me, I felt.
Once on our elephants, we just sauntered around the mud shore. Other tours on flat-bottomed boats floated by. I couldn’t help but feel superior, both in height and in choice. Scrunched up as they were on little stools they looked so uncomfortable, and there I was on my elephant, just wandering around.
Eventually the mahoots began to lead the elephants to the water, and what an experience that was! It became clear that we were supposed to slide off our elephant at the right time – not too high up such that we would fall and get hurt, but not too late, because the elephants seemed most anxious to take a roll in the mud.
I timed my slide well, and landed upright in the water. However, my mahoot had previously gestured and insisted that I should be taking off my sandals, I guess to be sure I didn’t lose them. The sandals would have been quite secure, however I did as instructed, and I found myself, with my tender feet, having to slosh around a rocky, muddy river bed. I had to pay more attention to the elephants than my feet, so that I didn’t get rolled on, but that part was a painful time. Lesson learned – keep your sandals on!
The real mahoots gave us loofa-type sponges and soap cakes and instructed us in how to wash our elephant. At home, our car doesn’t roll around, doesn’t fill its trunk with water and spray mud in the air. It was a blast, almost more exciting than riding them.
Finally our adventure was over. The mahoots helped us from the river, up to the vehicles and we returned to the compound for well needed showers. The spider was no longer there.
The elephants sauntered back to wherever they came from.
Related Links
Chiang Mai Tour Center (the actual tour we took)
Diabetic Tips
I brought along glucose tablets in a waterproof tube, and the tube fit easily in the pocket of my mahoot outfit. On the other hand, I couldn’t wear my pump into the water. Luckily our guide Bom did not ride or go into the water. I gave him my pump to hold during that part of the experience. If you go with Chiang Mai Tour Center you will have a guide with you at all times, so there are no worries. We just loaded him up with medical devices and cameras. What great pictures he took of us! Thank you Bom.
If you have sensitive feet, and are wearing waterproof sandals, don’t let the mahoots force you to take them off. I’m so used to doing what official tour-guides tell me, that when my mahoot gestured strongly that I should kick off my sandals, I did. He just didn’t realize that they were waterproof, and also didn’t realize how sensitive my feet are. I hobbled about a lot in the water, hurting my feet and trying not to just collapse in the water or under an elephant!
Check out this article of mine too:
Thailand Travel Blog – Itinerary, Impressions and Diabetic Travel Tips
