Year 2 -26 December 2025 -La Flora -Koh Lak-Boxing Day -Thailand

Happy Boxing Day

We woke a little early and had an early breakfast as we were going to the Elephant Sanctuary at the Phang Nga Elephant Park. It is a small family run park and they have cared for elephants for over 150 years. They opened the current park in 2015 to look after elephants in a caring and stress-free environment and they are dedicated to provide the highest quality of life for their elephants.

We got the minibus at 8.30am and we were driven for about an hour to the Elephant Park. This meant going through quite a bit of jungle territory with little shacks and agriculture showing us the way of life out here. When we arrived we were immediately led to a open building where we had a drink and were checked in as it were. We were given a briefing and were then led to an area where they showed us a 10 minute video about elephants and what they were doing with them.

We were then asked to wash our hands thoroughly as they did not want us to give the elephants any disease.

The guide then led us to an area where we could look over an enclosure where there were 6 elephants. They did have 8 but the owner of 2 of them took them back recently. He had left them there for some 4-5 years as he could not afford to look after them. The guide gave a little history of each elephant and a bit about their character.

The guide then explained about the health checks they do each day and one of the elephants put its foot on a log so it could be checked and he did this for each foot. The elephant was asked to raise its trunk so its teeth and tongue could be examined. They also examined its skin for cuts and abrasions and parasites.

We were then going to walk with the elephants and you always walk in front of an elephant or just at the side but not at the back. The 5 of us were given Choosri (pronounced choosy) and we walked in front of her. She was 56 years old and used to be involved in logging. She was really the matriarch of the group of elephants here. She was quite large and she walked slowly and we gradually went uphill. Mahout is the Hindi word for elephant keeper and the Thai’s call them Kwan Chaang. Choosri’s keeper walked with us and elephants have about 60 words they use with the elephant and they are with them about 14 hours a day.

We walked slowly up the hill and eventually came to a flat area. There were 4 other elephants with us and each had a small group of visitors with them. The 5 of us then fed Choosri with bananas and she would take one at a time with her trunk and put it in her mouth.  We got through a basket in about 10 minutes.

We then walked back down to the pool are which was a large pond fed by fresh springs and 2 of the elephants came in and bathed including Choosri. The pond was deep enough for them to lie down under the water and they breathed through their trunk. An elephant can hold their breath for over two minutes and they can swim.

Once we watched them bathe we went to another hut where they prepare vitamins and health foods for elephants which involves and number of plants and herbs and they even include cannabis!

We then were given lunch.

We were most impressed by the park and how clean and ethical it was and how they looked after the elephants.

We returned to the hotel for swimming and relaxing and we decided to have supper in as it was Francesca’s last night as she flies home tomorrow.

It had been another nice day.  

 The picture of the day has to be Choosri with us all.

Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. 

I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com