Its been months since I finally crossed off one of the things that I wanted to do in Thailand – visiting an Elephant Sanctuary. From where I have researched, watched and heard, interacting with the elephants is a must do in Thailand. It can be from Chiang Mai, or somewhere near Bangkok.
Since me and my friend were staying in Bangkok, we’ve chosen Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand located at Petchaburi, Thailand. It was a 3 to 4 hours of commute via bus.
Back in the Philippines, we used an online application called Klook where it offers an activity to visit the elephants. Visit Elephant Care Day at Wildlife Friends Foundation to know more about the activity. it is neither pricey nor affordable. For me, the price paid off the experience I had that day.
We took the Full Day Tour package that includes the following:
- Join in tour
- Meet and greet with elephants and other animals
- Learn about elephant refuge and other rescued animals
- Lunch (vegetarian option available)
- Water
- English speaking tour guide
- Elephant shower
- Elephant walk
- Join volunteers at rescue centre, watch elephants play and bathe
If you want a roundtrip transfer from/to Bangkok, a package awaits you on the choices.
The commute.
Going to Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand from Bangkok to be honest, is tiring. It is a foreign Country, you are not familiar with the transportation and you can’t speak their language. We rode a bus from Khao San Rd going to Southern Bus Terminal where we rode a van going to Cha Am. It was a long long commute that me and my friend kept ourselves aware of the location where we should be. Upon arriving at Cha Am, we hardly knew that going to WFFT is difficult as there is no public transport to support us, that in the end, we decided to call a Grab car (which costs a fortune, btw).
It took us about 4 hours before we finally arrived at WFFT, which is exactly the time for lunch. There were two divided groups during our visit. We’ve met people from London, local Pinoys and cool Dutch teenagers.
We’ve missed the tour on the sanctuary which we could have seen the other animals being taken cared of the foundation. However, we were right on time after lunch to walk the elephants while having them fed. We were assigned on one elephant which each one of us from the group has walked with and fed with watermelons.
After feeding, we were able to scrubbed and bathed the elephant.
We were then back on the tour where we were shown with other elephants, told by their stories, how they ended up with the foundation and who have been helping the foundation support the animals.
This one day trip at Petchaburi is messy but a real experience. I, personally enjoyed every moment I had with WFFT. The people, whether an employee or volunteer are nice, the animals are friendly and the tourists are well behaved.
I was able to find new friends on this journey as well.
So, if you are planning to visit Thailand soon, please, from my humble approach, add Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand on your list. Your visit can add span of lives on every animals in this foundation. 🙂
TO
Oops, and welcome to my newest travel buddy – Trevor the Turtle!
Friendly reminder:
- Please avoid riding the elephants. 🙂
xx,
