Today we got up earlier than usual, had a quick breakfast, and were dressed and ready outside the building by 8am. We were being picked up by a driver to take us to Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (https://www.wfft.org/), an hour away. Our driver pulled into our entrance at 8.15am, there was already one person on board, and the girls and I took the back row. We then stopped at two hotels to pick up people, before heading for the mountains.
It was a long ride, and it got drier and dustier the further away from the city we got. Once we were all in the bus, the driver put on a video informing us about the foundation and the sanctuary/rescue centre we were about to visit. But we also saw something cool in the hills:
After just over an hour in the bus, we finally arrive at the I-Love-Phants lodge (e-le-phants?), the accommodation, restaurant and tour base of the wildlife sanctuary. We got there at 9.30am, and had some time before the tour began at 10am. The lodge guests were just finishing up a buffet breakfast, but we were invited to purchase a beverage and look out onto the largest of their enclosures, home to 9 elephants, and a monkey island.
The tour started in a classroom style setting with a video to introduce the operations of this amazing sanctuary. They currently have about 850 animals from about 60 species. They just lost their oldest elephant to old age last Monday, so they are down to 19 elephants, 18 ladies and 1 very aggressive male. They also have 19 tigers. Did you know? (I didn’t.) They estimate that in the world right now, there are about 5000 tigers remaining in the wild. In the state of Texas alone, there are 5000 tigers in captivity. Isn’t that so sad?
After the introduction session, we were put into our three groups, so we now knew which guide and which bus to go with. The first stop on our bus tour was with a lonely elephant, Pun, who is not able to be in the larger elephant enclosure, as she does not trust anyone, elephant or human. She’s currently in a small one at the centre of the sanctuary, while they try to raise funds to build her a new enclosure with more space.
From Pun’s enclosure, we continued on foot. The next animal we saw was a blind crocodile. The centre always aims to release the wild animals back into the wild, but some animals, if they were born in captivity or have injuries that would be a liability in the wild, have to stay at the centre for the rest of their lives. So of course, this poor crocodile has to have his food provided for him for the rest of his life, as he cannot hunt in the wild.
I forgot to mention, there’s not only 850 animals at the centre, that’s just the wild animals. There are also chickens EVERYWHERE, and so many dogs running around! The centre was built up around space donated by a temple, so we are technically on temple grounds here, and temples are where people would usually bring animals when they tired of them had nowhere else to bring them. The stories of “exotic pets” dropped off at temples were just unbelievable! So the monks would care for the animals as best they could, but sometimes, like when tigers are dropped off, the animals are better off with knowledgable keepers.
There are so many animals we walk by and talk about, and I’m sure I’m forgetting many, but I will not soon forget the iguanas they have! This one in particular has a very particular cage mate, a macaque! Macaques carry the Herpes B virus, highly dangerous to all other primates and humans. Good thing it’s harmless to iguanas! The iguana was the calmest creature, and the macaque was jumping all over him, our guide told us the monkey will lay under the iguana and play with his hanging chin skin!
Next, we went through double gates into an enormous enclosure with high chainlink fencing. In here, the monkeys live in their own enclosures, with little bridges to connect the groups when they want to socialize. There’s also an entire herd of deer in here! They stampede past us several times during our walk through this vast area.
We make it out of the enclosure through an even bigger, double doored gate. Keep the dogs out and the deer in, our guide says. The gate area is the wall of another enclosure on the other side, this one has a large, hairy grey pig, a pig that scares our guide. It’s a very grumpy pig, she says, one that is completely paralyzed from her mid-spine and back, and yet she is incredibly fast for her size and disability. We all keep our distance and leave her alone.
After our walk ends (it was about a 90 minute hot and dry walk, there is sand and dust EVERYWHERE, and we have drank all 6 of the water bottles we brought from home this morning), the tour bus takes us back to the base, where they serve a delicious buffet lunch:
After lunch and ice creams, we noticed that the enclosure that looked so empty earlier, actually has elephants roaming around! They are closer now, but still not close.
At 1.15pm, our tour continues, this time mostly on the bus, “to relax and digest”, jokes our guide. We get to learn about the sun bears and moon bears. Can you see why the sun bear is called “dog bear” in Thai?
Our next area is the tiger sanctuary. This is where we learn that astounding fact about tigers in the wild vs tigers in Texas. When our guide lists the types of big cats they have here at the sanctuary, she says tigers, leopards, and fishing cats. I had to ask her, what on Earth is a fishing cat? It’s smaller than a tiger, has webbed feet, and some say it barks like a dog!
After a walk between tiger enclosures, and seeing some of the other cats they have, we get back on the bus and head over to meet an elephant. Keep in mind, none of the elephants here are ever kept in chains, they are free to roam and do as they please. Our guide had a large bucket of watermelon chunks (elephant-sized chunks, not what you and I would eat as chunks), and we were all invited to grab a piece and hand it to the elephant. The elephant was so capable with her trunk, she just curled it around the watermelon and brought it to her mouth. She was so gentle, and anything us clumsy humans dropped on the ground, she scooped up immediately.
That was the last stop of our wildlife tour today, but the memories of today will stay with us for years to come. I had to stop by the gift shop on my way out and get their t-shirt, so I can spread the word when out and about back in Canada as well. The girls got matching elephant bracelets, I hope they keep them for a very long time.
Then it was time to get back on the bus and head back to Hua Hin. I slept for at least the last half hour of the ride, it was a long and hot day. We all felt dusty, and our pants, socks and shoes were covered in sand. When we got home, we hopped straight into the shower to cool down and clean up, and then we needed dinner.
Joe suggested we head to Village Market, because after having been outside in the heat allllllll day, we needed air conditioning and clean surroundings. Most of our local restaurants here are patio restaurants, or they have one or more walls completely open to the elements. We hopped into a Grab and went to the mall for dinner.
I’ve been eyeing a restaurant upstairs that seems to have a different menu than the American or Japanese restaurants we see so many of. This one was Laotian, and we had some delicious food:
After our long day, we were exhausted. It’s not often we are this far from home at this hour! It was 8pm by the time Joe made a deal with a tuktuk taxi to drive us home (at twice the rate of a daytime Grab). It made for a fun ending to a magical day.
If you read this far, I would love it if you would comment below with something you learned from reading about our visit to Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand!
Because I see elephants close up in sanctuaries on line, I thought you would be closer to them. Nevertheless, feeding one watermelon would make a lifetime memory.
How large were the areas that the various species roamed in?
I think if you’re advertising a sanctuary, you’ll only use the closest and best pictures. In real life, at least in this one, there’s no restraint on the animal, and so why would they risk the safety of both animal and tourist by putting the two next to each other? If they’re in chains and able to be controlled by handlers, maybe they would risk it. Here, the animals are free to do whatever they want. Want watermelon? You have to come see the tourists. Want to roam around on the other side of the enclosures behind all the trees? Nothing we can do to stop you.
The enclosures varied in size depending on the animal’s needs, and also lands available. The first elephant was in a temporary setting, they are raising funds to get her into something bigger, as she does not get along with the herd of 9 in the biggest enclosure. The deer had so much space, they were running past us at one point and then we didn’t see or hear them the rest of the time we were within their area.
Det var virkelig en interessant dag dere har hatt. Det er godt å vite at det er noen steder de pröver å hjelpe dyrene og la dem få gå rundt på större områder enn de ellers ville hatt i en zoologisk hage. Vi får ønske det blir flere slike steder…
Ja, ikke sant? Det var en utrolig fin dag! Det var mange triste dyr der, som nå har fått et bedre liv enn det de har hatt så langt.