Review: 3 Hours Elephant Meet, Greet, & Eat – Is It Really Worth It?

So, you are checking into an elephant encounter, right? And you are thinking if the ‘3 Hours Elephant Meet, Greet, & Eat’ deal is the choice to go with. Well, this ain’t a simple yes or no thing. It really depends on just what you’re looking to take away. Is it that you want a brief brush with these big sweeties? Or are you really seeking something deep, where you get hands-on and help out in looking after them? Let’s go over every bit of it, so you can get a good sense of what’s coming.

What the ‘Meet, Greet, & Eat’ Really Means

Too often, what they offer sounds terrific on paper. What they’re really about in practice is often kinda different. So, first off, the ‘Meet, Greet, & Eat’ gig, it’s almost as it sounds – a way to, in a short space of time, make pals with some elephants, give them something delicious to eat, and snag some snapshots for when you go home. You will not, I think, be mucking out stables or assisting with some kind of serious health checks. It is more along the lines of, “hello there”, “here is food”, and “click”, you’re done. Still, don’t count it out. It is a wonderful starter if you are short on time or maybe not ready to do a whole day looking after elephants.

For numerous spots, this starts with someone explaining a couple of elephant things – such as, like, just how smart these guys tend to be and all of the reasons to treat them with kindness. After that, you get the chance to help make them lunch. That, of course, is food prepping like cutting up fruits or grabbing bundles of, I suppose, really tall grass. That ends up getting handed over as snacks later on. The spotlight, to be honest, really goes to the feeding and the pictures. A person will be there so they get shown on the ‘gram. And there is always some walking near the animals as well, but again, all supervised and generally really easy-going.

Is This Ethical? Figuring out the Sanctuary

Doing your homework? Seems smart! The ethics is, kind of, the center of a lot of discussion concerning any interactions with animals. A number of places call themselves “sanctuaries”. I suspect it is often used, arguably, more as a sales move. It is quite a good idea to ask some direct questions. See how open they may be. Ask what their thinking is as to caring for elephants. Check out what their daily routine is, as well as how they got started. Any legit spot should seem pleased, actually, to show you where the bucks from the tours happen to be going. Watch for places that do things the way you may not agree with. Such as, like, having people ride the elephants, pushing the elephants for trick performance displays or having really young elephants do sessions with lots of strangers daily.

One thing you want to see tends to be how at ease, you know, the elephants appear to be. Might they have access to shade and water all the time? Can they socialize easily with each other? I think that if an elephant just does not seem okay – too quiet or, say, they keep swaying their heads – this usually could be a clue things may not really be all good. It’s almost worth trusting what your gut feels when looking for some cues regarding the sanctuary.

What to Really Expect: My Trip Deconstructed

Okay, I did this kind of trip just some months ago, right? And I would want to give you some straight info of what really occurred, so that your visions meet what will likely happen. We, actually, got there fairly early to, like, this location just outside of Chiang Mai. Now the travel was included. So that really makes it a slam dunk. We got filled in by our, oh, kind of talkative guide about their elephant project. How the ladies taking a rest from circus jobs came to live right there. You then prep meals; big piles of all sorts of fruits were, actually, sliced while everyone gossiped at one another.

Here’s where the very cool element starts; we bring this food to, literally, a bunch of elephants. They are very, you know, curious. So there were trunks stretched our way from every side trying to grab whatever it is we carried. Everyone at our group got many pics of them personally handing a banana to, that is, their favorite elephant. To be sure, seeing the big things munch and hearing all of the crunching truly seemed, really, a lot more amazing face-to-face. After doing feeding time was over. There was some stroll close by a creek with all the elephants. Then some folks liked getting mud all over, to be honest, giving the animals a gritty type of body scrub using, as I remember, giant handfuls of dirt!.

Making a Choice: Are 3 Hours OK?

So, when a person questions regardless of if the “3 Hours Elephant Meet, Greet, & Eat” is right for them, try contemplating whatever is actually significant to you in particular. Do you, maybe, want things to run on the quick side, with more time to have other ventures. And so that can give this gig huge points. Do you care to support those groups really doing suitable things? And that could need a little asking to ensure they can. Would you like a bit to be involved more hands on? After that possibly see if extended events is truly what you want.

Keep clear, though, the elephants, usually, could not care less regardless of if the see one over three or six hour spans; really, so long as these hours all tend to be tranquil and, too, caring. Whatever matters to the creatures, arguably, boils down to being managed in proper ways regardless how you may give your day on top of those large creatures. Take a long look at what seems really true and select whichever supports an enterprise most attempting proper and fair care methods.

Whatever memories will go with your plans. Those brief tours can become a way of sparking love of fauna preservation from, literally, inside somebody and can grow larger adventures later as awareness grows. Check what precisely matches your traveling preferences and what exactly also supports an ethical tourist thing for fauna everywhere.