Maetaman Rafting and Elephant Camp

On a wet Monday morning in Oct 2001, the Going Solo Travel group from Calgary was exploring the northern regions of Thailand. We start our day in Chiang Mai, a wonderfully picturesque city with walls and moats, and head into the countryside to go river rafting and ride elephants. From Chiang Mai, a city of 200,000 we headed north on highway 107, then west on route 1096.

Driving through the countryside is always interesting, and I spend as much time a possible looking out the bus windows to see how the local people live. On this particular day I noticed a creative and industrious man working in a ditch of muddy water about 5 feet wide and probably 3 or 4 feet deep. The “fisherman” had constructed a small shelter to keep him out of the sun and dry during the rain. This would also allow him to keep an eye on his traps both day and night. A net had been constructed from one bank to the other. He must have had some sort of success fishing in this dubious water before; because you couldn’t even see if there were any fish as the water was thick and a murky tan color.

When we arrived at the Maetaman Rafting and Elephant Camp we went to the display and training area. The trainers, who bond with the elephants for life, put the elephants through a series of activities which simulated the tasks of a “working male elephant”. Some of these exercises consisted of lifting, pulling, nudging and kicking soccer balls (surprisingly far).


The elephants eat a vast amount of roughage each day, which was evident by the abundant droppings all around the compound. Our contribution to the daily diet were bunches of bananas which we purchased for a few baht, the Thai currency. There are still pockets of working elephants in Thailand, as we saw some of them on the roads in the Northern provinces.


Our elephant was outfitted with a Sudan type chair. To get in the seat, the elephant it was led up beside a platform the height of her back. We climbed the stairs and waited our turn. I was paired up with John one of my fellow travelers. Our trip would take us into the jungle on a loop up the side of the hill near the camp. The path was very muddy and slippery. I was a bit concerned about the animals slipping or getting stuck in the mud, but much to my surprise these lady elephants were very graceful, sure footed and never missed a step. Each elephant stepped into the footprint of the elephant before her, swaying back and forth as they lumbered up and down the paths between the tall trees. There was so much traffic over this route that the footprints were well worn, full of water and appeared to be about a foot or more deep.


When the elephant s became pensive about their next step they came to a stop and used their trunks to smell/feel out the placement of the next foot. I especially noticed this when it was really muddy and boggy or steep.










After our hour of swaying through the trees, the elephants were fed and treated to a swim in the river. Normally the river meanders through the quiet valley at a peaceful speed, but today after the rain the river is high, muddy and is running too fast for the small bamboo rafts. The starting point did not look too bad but further downstream there were some switchbacks where the river narrowed and sped up. So, after a fair bit of discussion and delays, the local river guides determined that it was not safe to proceed with rafting. Although we were very disappointed, I was glad that we erred on the side of safety, for everyone’s sake.