Elephant Nature Park is an elephant rescue and rehabilitation centre in Chiang Mai. The park was established in the 1990’s and their goal is to provide a sanctuary and rescue centre for elephants. My two younger sisters and I visited the park on September 7th 2019.
The day started out with a bus picking us up and ten other tourists in old town Chiang Mai. It was an hour long scenic drive up a windy road. As we were getting closer to the Elephant Nature Park we started noticing a bunch of other elephant sanctuaries. Not all elephant parks and sanctuaries in Thailand are created equal. From my prior research and speaking with friends who have been there previously, it seems like the Elephant Nature Park has a reputation for being one of the best in Thailand. As we continued to ride to the Nature Park it was hard to watch as some “sanctuaries” had elephants which were either chained up or being rode by tourists. I have asked many friends in Southeast Asia whether riding elephants was frowned upon and the consensus is, it is. I often wonder whether people disagree more with just the riding of the elephants (they are bigger and stronger than horses and that is socially acceptable), or if it’s more to do with the abuse they receive when they are not “working” or being the tourist attraction. I definitely think it is a combination of all these factors, so how can we try to reduce the abuse of these majestic animals. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
I don’t often like taking pictures of caged animals, whether it's in a small cage like a zoo or a very large property like the Elephant Nature Park, as I feel like I am cheating when taking these photos. I usually only enjoy taking photographs of wild animals but we don’t have any elephants in Canada and I was excited for the opportunity to photograph some up close.
My dirty backpacker sisters.
This next image is my favorite from the day, however I can not decide whether I like it more in black and white or colour. The black and white draws you into the elephant's eye but the colours just look so damn good. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Let me know your thoughts on these photographs. Do you prefer black and white or colour? Thanks for the visit.
Mat