This morning at 9:00am, our taxi driver picked us up from our hostel to drive us to Tiger Kingdom at Mae-Rim, Chiang Mai (pre-arranged taxi cost us 500 baht for the day)! Tiger Kingdom breeds the endangered Indo-Chinese species of tigers, where guests at the park are allowed to pet the tigers that are between 3 months to 2 years (tigers older than 2 years are too dangerous). Prices for petting tigers vary depending on their age and size (smallest, small, medium, and large). Generally, about 10- 15 minutes is given in each enclosure with the tigers. NOTE: They no longer allow guests to play with new born tigers, what a bummer! We were only allowed to take photos of them for a far. Deals for petting more than one age group of tigers were offered. We decided to take advantage of the group deal and see the smallest (4 - 8 months), medium (9 - 12 months), and large tigers (1 - 2 years) for 1,200 baht per person. Playing with the smallest tigers was my favourite, even though all but one was sleeping. They're so precious and adorable!
Although there`s controversy over the issue of drugging (sedating) the tigers, Tiger Kingdom claims that they do not do that (which is one of the main reasons why we picked this tiger zoo over the others). Even though most of the tigers that we pet were asleep, I didn't get the impression that the tigers were harmed or drugged in any way (tigers usually sleep during the morning/day, which is when we visited them and possibly the explanation for their tiredness). The staff there were all very friendly and seemed to have built a strong bond with the animals (I witnessed a staff member calling out to a tiger, which walked right up to him to rub his head on his face to say hi, aw!).
From my observation, Tiger Kingdom offers a decent living environment for the tigers. Although a bit small, the cages seemed very clean and well kept for the big cats. And from watching the tigers, I noticed that they were very calm, tame and non-aggressive. The reason why these tigers are comfortable with humans is because they are trained to act that way around people, since birth. Overall, our day visit to the kingdom was very exciting and fun! I wish we visited the tigers later in the evening though, because most of the tigers were asleep. Still, it was a very memorable and enjoyable experience!
From my observation, Tiger Kingdom offers a decent living environment for the tigers. Although a bit small, the cages seemed very clean and well kept for the big cats. And from watching the tigers, I noticed that they were very calm, tame and non-aggressive. The reason why these tigers are comfortable with humans is because they are trained to act that way around people, since birth. Overall, our day visit to the kingdom was very exciting and fun! I wish we visited the tigers later in the evening though, because most of the tigers were asleep. Still, it was a very memorable and enjoyable experience!
Yum, fresh Tiger kill for lunch.
By the time we left Tiger Kingdom, it was around 1:00pm. We still had some time to kill before catching our overnight train to Bangkok at 5:00pm, so we decided to stop by the orchid garden, which was about 5 minutes away, located in Mae-Rim. Entrance fee at the garden was 100 baht per person, which included an orchid flower pin/boutineer per guest (which I thought was a cute touch), along with access to the entire garden. It was a great opportunity for Steven to practice his photography skills, haha. The garden featured rows and rows of orchids and other various plants around the land. It was a very beautiful and relaxing place, as we were surrounded by hundreds of fully bloomed flowers. We were hoping to see some monkey orchids at the farm, but no luck! I didn't really have high hopes though, because monkey orchids are a rare find!
At 2:00pm, we decided to head over to watch the King Cobra show which was also about 5 minutes drive away! The fee for the snake show was 200 baht per person, which also included access to the snake farm and the opportunity to take a picture with a snake!
The show was a lot of fun (at the same time very scary) to watch! The commentary for the show was excellent (the lady spoke in English and she was very funny)! The snake handlers were extremely brave, as one drop of cobra venom will kill you in about an hours time! At one point, a cobra escaped out of the stage and slithered toward the audience!! Luckily, the snake handlers caught the snake just in time (although, I think that was all part of the act to scare us!) The show lasted for about 45 minutes, where four different types of snakes were presented to us. Two different sized cobras were shown first, where the handlers interacted with them by kissing, throwing, and dancing with the snakes, Ahh! It was such a thrill to watch them perform, as I felt so nervous and scared at the same time! The two other snakes that they showed us were not poisonous (water snake and the 'jumping' snake). Again, the snake handlers perform dangerous tasks including: playing with the snakes, poking them, and putting their heads in their mouths! At the end of the show, a demonstration as to how snake venom is collected is shown using a clear jar. I highly recommend watching the King Cobra show in Mae-Rim, Chiang Mai. It's certainly worth your time! We had an excellent day there!
By 3:45pm, we left the snake farm to head back to our hostel to pick up our bags, and finally, head to the train station for our long, overnight journey back to Bangkok!
Posted by Rebecca
