Today we have an early start again and get dressed for a day of elephant play. A minivan (yes not a tuk tuk!) picks us up from our hostel and we head to the elephant nature park. A quick nap for me on the journey after watching an introductory documentary on the nature park and how it came to be!
We drive through the forest and hills and end up at a beautiful clearing full of little herds of elephants. After departing from the van we head into wooden huts bursting to the brim with bananas, pumpkins and watermelons! an introduction into the elephants at the park and we head off to feed them. And wow! We were given elephants to feed and a basket of fruit. And away we go. They are so ridiculously huge and so almost prehistoric looking. I have never been so close to an elephant and had my hand in its mouth!!
We met a few elephants and learned their rescue stories- most of them had really brutal and horrible backgrounds so I felt so much better knowing they were in this sanctuary.
After feeding the elephants they wander to the river and the group of us follow them with buckets to wash them. Once in the water the elephants love to be splashed with the buckets of water to refresh and cool them down. It was another great experience. After bathing the elephants then head to the muddy areas and spray themselves with "sunscreen". We then head back to the huts for a big buffet lunch- really really good food!
After lunch we feed the elephants again and watch them wander around in their herds for a while. Then a documentary was played in the film room. This was a really brutal and honest documentary of the domestication of working elephants and it was difficult to watch- although I didn't cry, I was in the minority. After the documentary and another deeper respect for these rescued elephants we head out to feed and bathe them again. Then it was back in the buses and back to town. I'm glad we went to the sanctuary rather than just for rides on the elephants and I would really reccomend it!
back in town we head to a highly recommended street vendor and I was not disappointed. I had the massoman yellow curry and it truly was incredible (AJS recommended). Back to the hostel and bed!