Elephant Nature Park

Monday Nov 7.  Had a nice traditional Thai breakfast near the little pool at the hotel.  Sat at a table with two couples, but all of them just played with their phones.  No interest in chatting at all. Disappointing.  Finally got on the bus to the Elephant Nature Park.  It is over an hour drive.  The inside of the large van is super fancy.  There is a large screen that comes down and they showed a couple of videos about the park.  Finally arrived... and yes, there are elephants everywhere!  And dogs, cats, water buffalo... all wandering around!!

Lots of kitties running at large at the facility.  What a purrfect life!

View from the platform.

There is a "sky walk" that you can go out on and look over some of the elephant areas.  There are shelters for shade, large cement "stumps" for them to rub and scratch on, mud areas for them to get their mud packs, and a river that they can stand/roll around in.  It is very beautiful.

You can see the river in the bottom of the photo.

Dogs everywhere!  What a life!

Lots of spots for a good scratch and rub!

Need just a little more mud pack....

Following her mahout to the Elephant Kitchen!

The dog facility is quite large and a bit overwhelming!  Most of the dogs live in groups in large enclosures.  There are several different areas.  Then there are the hospital cases and clinic cases. Some are in smaller kennel runs and a few of the more critical or chronic cases are in cages.  Those that can are walked 3 times daily, the kennels are kept incredibly clean.  The dogs are very well cared for.  There are also kitties, but one of the Thai vets care for those, so the rest of us rarely see them.

Entrance to clinic area.

Puppy Nursery!

Hospital cases.

Part of one of the many dog enclosures.

After dinner I had a nice foot massage.  Takes a bit over an hour total and costs 180TB
(about $6!!!).  These ladies work hard for their money!  They are amazingly strong.  There must be 10-12 of them here each evening until 9pm.  They are usually very busy.  Amy, the WV liaison, says she gets a massage every night.  WOW!  I can see why!  Not sure if I will go every night... but I think I will be there often!!
Until tomorrow!