Think of Thailand and you likely conjured up images of pristine beaches, massages and elephants. While it’s true that all of these things could be used to represent Thailand, elephants are actually the national animal and they play a key part in Thai history, culture and identity.
When it comes to flying between the African continent and any other there are a few major hub cities that you are likely to fly through. The two major African airlines are Ethiopian Airways, with its hub in Addis Ababa, and Kenyan Airways, with its hub in Nairobi. Should you find yourself with a long layover in Nairobi, you should know that there are a lot of really fun activities to do that are easily accessible throughout the city.
In 2016, I had an 18-hour layover in Nairobi, on my way from Ghana to Thailand, and here’s everything I did.
When people think of Thailand, often what comes to mind includes elephants. I mean, King Rama IV did offer to send some elephant to Abraham Lincoln to help the Union fight the Civil War. However, the number of wild elephants in Thailand has dropped from around 100,000 at the turn of the century to between 3,000 and 4,000 today.
Many elephants in Thailand are domesticated, working elephants. In the 80’s, when legal restrictions were placed on logging in Thailand, many mahouts, or elephant caretakers, and their animals were put out of a job, and many turned to begging on the streets. The elephants that remain a part of the logging industry are often overworked and prevented from breeding, as an elephant’s pregnancy lasts nearly 2 years and the baby needs at least three months with the mother.
Seeing the plight of the elephants in Thailand, Sangduen Chailert, known as Lek, opened the Elephant Nature Park in 1996 as a sanctuary for elephants, and an extension of the Save Elephant Foundation.
In Thailand, a bpai tiao is a trip of any length. I’ve written about some of my more significant bpai tiaos to tourist destinations here, to be used as travel ideas and tips.
One thing that my parents were particularly interested in doing on their visit to Thailand was spending time with some elephants. There are a lot of disreputable elephant organizations in Thailand, that don’t properly care for the elephants. However, there are two organizations that I have found that I would whole-heartedly recommend.
Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary for elephants that have been used and abused in the past. Patara Elephant Farm works to breed elephants with the ultimate goal of releasing them and combatting the declining population. We went with Patara, and included in their Elephant Owner for a Day program are photos and videos. Check out this video I made using the videos they took!