A trip to Chiang Mai without visiting one of the elephant sanctuaries would be considered incomplete. Our tour guide told us that there are three main such "sanctuaries" that cater for tourists. The one chosen by our tour agent is Maetaman Elephant Camp & Bamboo Rafting which he claimed is the most established among the three.
Practically, all such sanctuaries provide four basic things for the visitors: elephant ride, elephant show, bullock cart ride and bamboo rafting. For some who like to learn about paper making using elephant dung , they can ask to pay a visit to the paper making facility. Some sanctuaries also offer flying fox to the more adventurous tourists.
Getting on an elephant and riding on one is indeed a thrilling experience. Our mahout, the elephant trainer is a small-built man. He was bare-footed and carried a metal hook to guide and manoeuvre his elephant. With his vast experience in taking countless tourists along this familiar trail, he knew how to instill fear mixed with calculated risks to make the ride truly a fun-filled and exciting experience - Just when the elephant was about to fall into a ravine at a trail bend with us yelling at the top of our voice, the mahout manoeuvred the animal away from "disaster" at the very last second!
These elephants are no ordinary elephants. After years of contact with obliging tourists, they know how to take full advantage of them. Without being fed with bananas or sugar canes bought by people like us from food stations along the trail, the animal just refuse to move.
Crossing hilly terrian and river!
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The sanctuary also claims to be environmental friendly and committed to recycling. Elephant dung is not wasted but converted into paper. Fibres is abstracted from the elephant dung, pounded into paste, washed into pulp and then sieved and dried into paper!
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