June 14th, 2011 
cbrodzky Visiting the Elephant Nature Park, a rescue and rehabilitation center in northern Thailand, was one of the most memorable experiences during my backpacking adventure. I had seen the park on a National Geographic TV show a few years back and as soon as I saw their travel office in Chiang Mai, I knew it was a must see. It was a little pricey, $80USD for a day trip, but well worth every penny.
There were several times while venturing around Chiang Mai, and other parts of Thailand, where people would walk around with an elephant and offer tourist a chance to feed the elephants for a fee. I learned at the park that elephants have extremely sensitive feet and walking around all day in the city is extremely stressful for them, especially since they can feel the vibrations of the cars from the street. Even a fly can cause an elephant to itch itself, as you can see from this video of an elephant trying to tackle a few itches:
Our day trip to the Elephant Nature Park was packed with fun activities, such as feeding and bathing the elephants. We even got to meet the world’s laziest cat as our guide was giving a demonstration on where we can stand next to the elephants.
Lek, a cute little Thai woman whom I had the pleasure of meeting, started the Elephant Nature Park in ’96. I’m not the type of person to get starstruck, especially since I’ve seen a number of celebrities while living in New York City (not to brag or anything), but I felt honored being in Lek’s presence since she started something so great. Her compassion to help these elephants is so apparent and you can tell she’s the only person these elephants trust.
Here are a few photos from our trip to the Elephant Nature Park:
Visit my Flickr photostream to view the rest of my photos of the Elephant Nature Park.
Posted in 
Tags: 
