The Special Skills of Thailand's Elephants
With a little help from their handlers called Mahouts, the amazing elephants of Chiang Mai display their skills at the Maesa Elephant Camp. Seeing Thai elephants on showcase is a highlight of any trip to Chiang Mai. It's about a 30 minute ride from the walls of old Chiang Mai city to the elephant camp, however similar to the rest of Thailand after a long drive you are still within the Chiang Mai city limits. Along the way you'll pass luxury resorts, a golf course as well as a few other tourist attractions to tempt you like shooting ranges, dune buggies, as well as snake and insect farms.
The Elephant Camp itself is one of the largest in Thailand and a day there starts with an elephant bathing show before everyone heads to the arena to watch the elephants parade in to show off their strength agility and dexterity. The camp is beautiful and well-organized and there are elephants as far as the eye can see. This all takes place in the backdrop of the beautiful Maesa Valley.
These elephants are impressive and quite versatile and look happy and healthy. You can see that they are loved by their Mahouts and watching the show you can see their personalities shine. The best part of the show would have to be the portion where they create the paintings. All of the elephants create a circle so each person in the crowd can only see what one elephant is painting. While you are enjoying watching the elephant in front of you, you can't help but be distracted by the exclamations about the elephants that you can't see.
After the show itself you have the opportunity to go for a ride, options are a short little jungle hike or up and over a hill into a valley where you can find little villages that are the examples of the local tribes that you can find in the hills of Thailand. If you are in search for an authentic experience than this is not the place, there are a lot of multi day options to get out of the city and see it for real. The elephant show and trek has been created for the tourists, it's a fun time and a great way to see how much the Thai's love their elephants.
What travel experience have you had that was well worth it?
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