Lions and tigers and elephants, oh my!

I just had to post a few of these pictures. I shared some of these pictures with my family and I believe my sister's exact words were, "What are you crazy?! That tiger could have eaten you for a snack!"

Those exact thoughts did not cross my mind, but it did seem pretty fatalistic all the sudden when I was allowed, through a trap door, into the tigers' enclosure and was warned not to touch the walls made of chain linked fence or any of the wires running along the walkways because they were electric. Hmm...I thought...I am in a ten foot high electrified pen with three full sized tigers and two 'animal trainers' will little more than sticks to protect us. Strangely, I was pretty relaxed. It was probably because both the trainers and the tigers were really relaxed about the whole thing.

Last Sunday, I went to the Tiger Kingdom just outside of Chiang Mai. It was part of a kind of package deal that included a trip to the Maesa Elephant Camp. My guesthouse's manager's husband was taking their nephew to the Elephant Camp and Tiger Kingdom is nearby so they offered to give me a free ride.

I had heard great things from several travellers about Tiger Kingdom. The park looks like a very well maintained Western zoo with at least a dozen huge enclosures. The enclosures are grassy spaces enclosed within in ten or so feet high chain link electric fences. Each enclosure also has an area with a concrete landing and a roof. They are fed there daily and I suppose it is also a place for the animals to get away from the rain and heat. There was also a smaller concrete bottomed, walled pavilion where the newborn tigers are raised. There are four groups of tigers and they are segregated according to their age into different spaces. The larger tigers are the sub-divided further into a handful of enclosures. Tickets are purchased depending on which age group (or groups) you want to go in and have a 15-20 minute visit with. The general consensus I gathered from other travellers was that the full sized and newborn tigers are the best to experience.

The tiger cubs were six weeks old and adorable. Luckily, the timing of the other visitors was staggered enough that I had one of three cubs all to myself. He didn't crawl all over me like the others were, but I was fine with that. I was just in awe. The pictures are a little blurry. He was in a constant state of wobbly motion. He did look a little glassy eyed and that bothered me because I had heard some rumors that the tigers are tranquilized, but I have also heard people adamantly deny that. It is hard to tell in Thailand, to be honest, who is telling the truth about tourist attractions and who even knows the real answer. The animal protection laws just don't really exist here.

Maesa Elephant Park

Our first stop of the day was to the Maesa Elephant Park. I was pretty hesitant about the whole experience and I still don't really know what to make of it. After unknowingly participating in an elephant trek just north of Phuket in which we road on metal benches that damage the elephant's backs, I pretty much vowed to stay away from an elephant park, no matter if it had a good reputation. This elephant park was a huge wooded farm area that supports over seventy elephants. I could say they looked well taken care of, but I am not a veterinarian, I really don't know. What the nephew and so many other Thai children were at the park for that day was the Elephant Show. Several of the elephants had been trained to march around a huge dirt ring and perform tricks like trying to kick an oversized soccer ball into an oversized goal and to paint with watercolors. I didn't stick around for the entire show, but I did pay for it as part of my admission.

We also had the opportunity to watch several of the elephants bathe in the parks river. Watching them each amble down the rocks into the water felt like watching grandmothers of the animal kingdom out for daily swim. They then took turn lying down in the running stream all the while their handlers dumping bucket loads of water on their backs.

We had the option to buy bananas and sugar cane to feed the elephants. I felt like a contestant in an episode of "America's Funniest Home Videos" as two eight foot pachyderms came rather quickly towards me in hopes of getting the bananas from the little French girl squealing in delight and fear in front of me. Is it universally rude to push a child closer to an elephant even if their parent has been stupid enough to ply them with bananas and step away so they can get some good pictures? I literally tried to climb over the bench behind me, but it had a high back to it so I was kind pinned while these elephants' trunks had their way with me. No, there was nothing remotely sexy about it. The long moment passed uneventfully, thank goodness, and the French girl was off to taunt another creature several times her size.

I really enjoyed visiting the nursery. It was just a large pen where a six week old elephant had been sequestered with his mother. I am such a sucker for babies. I was later told that baby elephants are often separated like this to protect them from aggressive elephants that may harm them. The baby sure was fun to watch. He was trying to feed himself water by dipping his trunk into a barrel just outside of the pen, sucking up water, and putting his trunk into his mouth. He was doing it so slow and deliberately. He managed to get his trunk into his mouth after a bit of a miss and then stuck his trunk in too far and gagged himself. In a fit of frustration, he shot the water back into the barrel and stumbled away to hide behind his mother's legs. He had learned how to pick his minder's pockets, though, in search of food. It is no wonder there are signs posted all around the park warning visitors to watch their belongings. It is because of the sometimes over zealous elephants. Can you spot the baby in the picture? Look for the little trunk...