We knew we wanted to ride Elephants during our travels but we were concerned with the care and use of the camp we would pick. We had seen packaged elephant trips from the moment we landed but got the feeling they were all pretty much camps built and elephants purchased to provide standard rides up and down a road. We found this one in Pai, called Thom's Elephant Camp and knew we had found our place. The elephants had been Thom's fathers and were previously used for logging in the mountains behind their farm. When the father died Thom needed to be able to feed the elephants and started offering mountain rides, creating the first elephant ride camp in Pai.
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| Our first introduction, a hug |
At 5pm the elephants are brought up to the mountain to spend the night where it is cool and they can graze. In the morning the Mahut (each elephant has an individual handler for life) goes up the mountain to get the elephants and bring them down.
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| What do I do? |
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| All the farmland was for these three elephants at Thom's |
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| We stopped for a while so they could eat. They need 200kg of food per day |
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| Down to the river we go |
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| Moments before she bucked her head on que and launched me |
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| A really amazing experience |
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