Elephant Trekking in Northern Thailand

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/wOnz3fWa8O4&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/wOnz3fWa8O4&rel=1</a>

This was a very uncomfortable experience!

The ethics of it are debatable too. On one hand, they stopped logging in Thailand and using the elephants for tourism is certainly better than letting them die. On the other hand, the place I went too seemed to be breeding them too, with no signs that they were to be re-introduced into the wild.

We checked out a few trips online, but in the end booked it through a small agent in Chaing Mai (at a laundry place!)

I'll have to dig out the cost, but it wasn't expensive. I remember we paid less than other guys on the same trip who booked it elsewhere - as we were leaving one of the agents asked us not to tell them!

We didn't quite get what we paid for though. We booked a 2 day trek in the jungle, which was supposed to be the elephant trek, a couple of hours walking and a couple of hours white-water rafting the next day. In the end we walked for at least 6 hours (and I had an injured foot!) and only got 20 mins or so rafting.

Despite the agony of the trek it was well worth it though, we stayed with a hill tribe, had some great food and smoked opium with them all night!

What a great experience!