After a short hour long flight, I landed in Chaing Rai early Saturday afternoon and took an hour drive to the hotel, located the town of Chaing Sean in the Golden Triangle, an area named for the convergence of three countries (Thailand, Myanmar and Laos) which meet at the confluence of the Mekong and {need} rivers. The hotel was amazing and features an elephant camp and support and preservation program built onto the property. I ended my Saturday with a massge and dinner in preparation for my elephant adventure on Sunday.

Sunday began shortly after breakfast with my first program with the elephants of Anantara Golden Triangle. The Elephant Camp at Anantara is a foundtain built to support and rescue elephants from Thailand's logging industry, circuses and the tourism industry on the streets of the cities. Not only does the camp support the elephants, but also the mahouts (elephant's trainer) and the mahouts entire family. Many of the mahouts have lifelong relationships with the elephants so its a really great feature of the resort and the camp that they provide for the mahouts and their entire family as an extended support network of the elephants themselves.

Me and Boon Si after training, ready for walk.

My first experience was a program called Walking with Giants which gave an up close and personal look at the elephants and their relationship with the mahouts. It also provided a great opportunity to learn more about the camp and the elephants themselves. I spent a few hours working up close with Boon Jan and her 16 month old son Suki. We walked through the jungle and I got an opportunity to feed and bath the elephants while watching them interact in their natural environment. It was a great experience and easy to see how the program at Anantara provides a healthier experience and environment for the elephants and the interaction with guests. The elephants were healthy and happy and well take care of, which proves vastly different to other camps and how elephants are treated elsewhere.

Later in the afternoon, I participated in the Mahout Training Experience where along with Boon Si and her mahout, I got to learn the basic commands for interacting and riding with the elephant. After some short training, boarding and exiting the elephant, a small drivers test of manuvering Boon Si proved me worthy of a longer ride. Boon Si was gentle and lazy and together with her mahout and the elephant experince guides, we took a long walk and dunk in the river. It was a truly great experience and an incredible time interacting with the elephant. It gave me an awesome appreciation for the program and the preservation of these awesome animals.

For more information on the foundation and to help support these Asian elephants please visit:

http://www.helpingelephants.org

More pictures from my trek available on my iCloud.

After a great italian meal at the hotel it was a good sleep and up the next day for the 4 hour drive to Chaing Mai.