Elephants and Tigers
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2007
1
40
54
Trip End
Dec 20, 2007
Kanchanaburi,
Thailand
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Two hours later and we arrived in Kanchanaburi. On the out skirts of the city, the war memorial and massive burial site for all the WWII casualties are located. It was extremely well preserved; row upon row of head stones, symmetrically laid out and placed in groups of nationality. Small rose bushes lined the paths that run in between the sections, all leading to the war memorial - the center piece. I particularly liked some of the witty catch phrases quoted on the head stones
War Graves
. However, one especially summed up the experience for both of us:"If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England."
I believe it was by Rupert Brooke, from his famous poem - The Soldier.
We continued our tour by visiting the site where the Japanese concentration camps were located by the River Kwai. The Museum (an extra 40 baht) had a small collection of memorabilia but the focal point was the remains of the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai. The first attempt was made of wood and blown up by the allies. The second attempt was made of steel. When the allies tried to blow it up, the Japanese forced all the prisoners of war onto the bridge to deter the allies. Unfortunately for them they performed their duty resulting in countless fatalities. The Japanese built another bridge during peace time as some form of apology. We manage to walk across it with several other pilgrims in a sobering silence.
We continued our journey by rail
War Graves
. The train meandered through the jungle, parallel to the river at a rickety old pace before screeching to a halt at our pick up point. We bundled into our mini bus and pulled into a restaurant not long after. Food and drink was included in our tickets. We left the others to continue on to the water falls whilst our selves and a young Australian lady went to ride Elephants through the jungle. It wasn't as bad as everyone makes out. Our guide did not use any tools to control the Elephant - he used verbal commands and his feet behind the Elephants ears. After a thirty minute ride we had the opportunity to feed the Elephants. Many people find the whole idea of Elephant rides cruel but I personal have come to the conclusion on my adventures that it is better to see them in nature reserves where people ride, feed and get to find out about them rather than have them slaughtered for their Ivory. In an ideal world it would be far more appropriate to see them in the wild. Unfortunately with most of the South Asian countries, their planning and development laws are virtually non existent and the little forest that is left is polluted and poached beyond repair. My apologies if people find our activities offensive but at the end of the day it was our choice to participate.
We re-grouped at the waterfalls before heading to our final destination - The Tiger reserve. It was such an amazing experience to actually touch Tigers! After a safety talk, we were each allocated a keeper who took us by the hand to visit the Tigers and take pictures. It was very brief but I certainly didn't want to hang about too long anyway. They are wild animals so it is wise to treat them with respect. They are only available to be touched for a few hours a day so as not to aggravate them
War Graves
. The keepers claimed they were not drugged and that they were tolerant of humans because they were reared by monks. Whether its true or not they still have their basic instincts and eat meat! we were both amazed though by the fact that all the other animals - cows, wild boar, deer etc could wonder about so freely. They had an information center and a newly built enclosure for the Tigers - complete with waterfall, caves, trees and a little stream. Its quite large in comparison with Elephant enclosure at Shanghai Zoo. The money that they raise from the tourists visiting goes towards their breeding program: 30 cubs have successfully been reared at the reserve so far!We spent another two hours traveling back to Bangkok crammed into the back of a mini bus. We were so exhausted that we just grabbed a subway before heading back to the hotel.
Comments
elephants and tigers????
You seem like nice enough people but do you think about the implications of your acts at all? Elephants are not meant to be plodding along trails with heavy boxes of humans on their backs! They have been stolen from their families and beaten (did you SEE that hooked stick your mahout was carrying???) into submitting to these unnatural activities. And those tigers? Do you have ANY concept of what has been done to that tiger that you were petting so happily?
That was either an appallingly reckless touism opportunity, or that poor magestic creature has been declawed and defanged and almost certainly drugged. Until nice tourists like you stop participating in these cruel and exploitive activities, more animals will be stolen from the wild and abused for your pleasure. You need to THINK. And decide to engage in responsible tourism. Just because you CAN do it does not mean that it's OK.
elephants and tigers????
You seem like nice enough people but do you think about the implications of your acts at all? Elephants are not meant to be plodding along trails with heavy boxes of humans on their backs! They have been stolen from their families and beaten (did you SEE that hooked stick your mahout was carrying???) into submitting to these unnatural activities. And those tigers? Do you have ANY concept of what has been done to that tiger that you were petting so happily?
That was either an appallingly reckless touism opportunity, or that poor magestic creature has been declawed and defanged and almost certainly drugged. Until nice tourists like you stop participating in these cruel and exploitive activities, more animals will be stolen from the wild and abused for your pleasure. You need to THINK. And decide to engage in responsible tourism. Just because you CAN do it does not mean that it's OK.