[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][ultimate_heading main_heading=”Bangkok Elephant Ride & The Pass” heading_tag=”h1″ alignment=”center” spacer=”line_with_icon” spacer_position=”bottom” spacer_img_width=”48″ line_style=”solid” line_height=”1″ line_color=”#333333″ icon_type=”selector” icon=”Defaults-circle-blank” icon_size=”32″ icon_style=”none” icon_color_border=”#333333″ icon_border_size=”1″ icon_border_radius=”500″ icon_border_spacing=”50″ img_width=”48″ line_icon_fixer=”10″][/ultimate_heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
Bangkok Elephant ride by Eng
Recently I have got an email about elephant ride. The writer said, elephant ride is animal abuse. The elephant were stolen from jungle rather than raise in the farm. Tourist, elephant farm owner, and tour operator has had elephant for their own benefit. The writer even warns us to take elephant ride and any activities related to elephant out of our tour package before it is too late and damage our reputation. Final of email, he gave his name without indicating the organization that he works for. I guessed that he must be a person that love elephant so much to spend his time by sending email to many tour agents.
This is a first email that we receive related to elephant abusive. It was not a shock issue email since many years ago we received something similar but related to Tiger temple.
This email made me think about the elephant in tourism business. It is almost like eggs and chicken problem. In Thailand, we use elephant since ancient time. The king uses them for vehicle and we even trade them to Chawa (Dutch Colonial currently Indonesia). When the county was continued developing, the wild elephants were trained to pull the timber to village and distribute to home, factory and more. Back then, there are certainly no human right and animal conservation. Otherwise, it will be a lot of case and law sue. What I try to say is Thai people and the elephant has a high relationship since the old day. We have used elephant as a labor resource long before tourist come to Thailand.
Now some elephant farm could breed and have an elephant for their own without bringing them from the jungle. Now a day, Thai government does not allow to bring wide elephant to work in any business. They set up the rules and shipped the elephant. Elephant in the farm now has ID to be able to identify their sources. This is one of the process to help and get rid of illegal trade. However, there are people that break the law and do not treat animals with respect. It is good to share information of those farms so we all can avoid them till they have more improvement. All of this long writing lead to that we have a good farm and bad farm. Is it better to say what or who follow the rules and who did not rather than say all of elephant ride and activities to serve the tourist are bad?
I do not mean to bring you off of the topic which related to elephant ride near Bangkok but I want to give some notice of how we (as a tour operator perceive this). For those who visit Bangkok and interest to go for Bangkok elephant rides, you may wonder where could you go for Bangkok elephant ride?
I would recommend at Kho Yai Trip is a full day tour which is nice scenic but it is away from Bangkok for the 2.3 hours ride. However, if you have time and love nature you will love this trip.
One of the closet elephants that you may interest to visit is Ayutthaya. I love that you may get a picture with the ruins in the background which make it look like a king ride on an elephant.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_single_image image=”2723″ css_animation=”fadeInUp” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” border_color=”grey” img_link_large=”yes” img_link_target=”_self” title=”at Ayutthaya in front of wat Pharam” img_size=”full”][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]Visit Kanchanaburi is very nice for a day tour. You could enjoy elephant bath or elephant ride program, There are another program that you may like is the Elephant home. This is a home of old elephant that you may rest . Full day program you could learn how to make herb for help, help them exercising, cooking soft food for them and take a bath for them. It is highly recommended if you interest. It is one of the best volunteer program that we recommend.
There are other places that you could enjoy elephant ride such as Rose Garden, and Damnern Saduak Floating Market or Pattaya that you could join or stop for elephant ride for 10-30 minutes while visit main attraction.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_single_image image=”2724″ css_animation=”fadeInUp” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” border_color=”grey” img_link_large=”yes” img_link_target=”_self” title=”Take picture with elephant at Ayutthaya farm” img_size=”full”][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]As we are in the tourism business, we do not mean to make the topic become a very serious issue. We love to hear awareness and help to get rid of the problem.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
