Have You Ever Ride An Elephant Before?

Unfortunately, none of you could get what the purple-color thingy on the flipper of our lovely baby sea turtle. That is iodine, a chemical element used to treat the cuts or sores on their shell and skin. These cuts and sores can be caused by one trying to remove seashells attaching to the skin as well as shell. Besides, the sores can also be caused by fungus problem on sea turtle’s shell and skin. Turtles shed their skin like other reptiles, so do they shed occasionally the outermost layer of their shells. But if the shedding is continuous and severe, the turtle may have infected with fungus.

After the Phang Nga Coastal Fishes Research and Development Center, we went for elephant trekking! Has anyone of you ever tried sitting at the back of elephant before? That was my first and has no doubt becoming the highlight of the entire eco tour! The elephant camp is located within the Asia Safari Park up the hill in Khao Lak. Here are a little bit introductions on elephant in Thailand. Elephant is the national symbol of Thailand. For many centuries, elephants hold a respected place in Thai society. The rare white elephants are especially prized. At ancient time, elephants played an important role in wars and also provided transportation for mankind. Nowadays, they are more likely trained to move teak logs. Most of them, however, are trained to carry the tourists around like me!

Men in action!

Let’s get back to the elephant trekking. Upon entering the safari park, we were led to the elephant training camp right away. Here we saw quite a few elephants restrained in a wooden shack.

Jumbos, here we come!

We were then led to a platform where we climbed over and sat on one of the largest animals in the world.

This is where we climbed over and sat on the back of elephant

A chair was tied on the back of elephant

Let’s go for the elephant trekking. It was a thrilling ride through the beautiful shaded forest on the back of an elephant. Luckily, we were not alone on the back of this graceful beast. Every elephant has its own mahout or rider. The mahout skillfully instructed the elephant along the mountain paths. Our elephant never looked like she was going to lose her footing climbing up and down the hillside. Occasionally, she did give us some scary moments picking up leaves with its trunk. Our elephant is a naught one. She took every chance to draw water from water holes on the ground using its trunk and pumped the water into the air! And quite often, she took me by surprise. She was playing with us!

Posing on the back of an elephant

You do not get much chance to do this!

Elephant ride

We were back in the camp after nearly 1 hour riding on the back of the elephant. We were offered Phuket pineapples as light refreshment. I was told that Thailand is one of world’s leading producers in pineapples. Phuket pineapple is very crunchy with delicate sweet taste. Malaysian pineapples are not that crunchy.

Delicious Phuket pineapple

While we were savoring the crunchy and sweet pineapples, our elephant also busy filling up its stomach.

Our elephant with the mahout

Comparative view of a human besides an elephant (and this one is no where near the adult size yet!)

Close up view of an elephant

See for yourself how intelligently she uses its foot and trunk

My safari park tour had not completed just yet. Stay tuned for more to come!

Technorati Tags: elephant trekking, eco tour, Asia Safari Park, Khao Lak, Phuket pineapples

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