Elephants And River Rapids

For our second night of trekking we were staying in a large bamboo hut situated right on the river facing the water. The sound of the rapids was pretty loud but not quite loud enough to keep you awake after a hard day of trekking. When morning came the group grabbed some breakfast in the form of scrambled eggs and more toast than you could shake a stick at served up once again by our guide. Once we could eat no more we boarded several elephants of varying sizes for a trek along the river. I managed to get an elephant all to myself as everyone else jumped on in couples. Balancing on the back of the beast seemed much easier on your own and most of the elephants seemed well behaved as we slowly moved towards the river rapids and deep water. Me and my trusty elephant, "Jeffery" as I liked to call him were the last in the group as we crossed the river.

The water depth was as high as three quarters of the way up the elephants body as the first two elephants crossed safely to the river bank. I wasn't expecting to be facing any water action on a elephant trek and had foolishly forgotten to remove my passport from my trouser pocket, as well as this I also had my camera to worry about. As my elephant took two more steps into the river disaster struck infront for the Belguim couple Max and Clare. Their elephant suddenly decided he fancied a nice relaxing swim in the sun disobeying the guides orders and dumping the couple into the swirling river rapids. I watched in disbelief as they scrambled to cling onto rocks as they were swept down the river. Our guide for the trekking rushed to the river bank like an Olympic 100 meter sprinter in order to save them.   Max managed to grab onto a large rock and then rescue his other half as she was swept towards him and they were eventually pulled to safety as the genuine panic subsided and left myself nervously patting "Jeffery" as he slowly plunged in the river. Fearing the worst for my passport more than the swim in the river "Jeffery" followed the other remaining elephants and cleverly dodged the one badly behaved elephant still basking in the river. Thankfully "Jeffery" didn't fancy fooling around in the river and my passport remained intact onto dry land to face another river crossing on the way back to camp.

The elephant ride was great fun and all the elephants seemed to be treated well. On our way back we all bought bananas to feed the elephants and "Jeffery" seemed particularly hungry eating them all before reaching home.

On our way we noticed Max and Clare who had been brave enough to get back on board the elephant for a trek further away from the river. After the incident all the elephant treks took place away from the river, probably to prevent another accident.

In the afternoon we took two big rubber dingies and headed down to the river for some white water rafting. This was really good fun but not quite as scary as I thought it was going to be, maybe elsewhere on my trip it might prove more challenging but never the less it was fun. After getting wet and a blister from paddling we boarded two bamboo rafts for a relaxing cruise down the river. I was again left fearing for my pale skin as my sun screen had been washed away by the water.

After the cruise we tipped our guide and headed back to Chiang Mai where the whole group met up in the evening for dinner. We chose a seafood restaurant and I picked out the green curry with shrimp, it was very good but left me sweating in the heat. Myself, Alyssa, Brig, Amy and Lucy stayed out for a few quiet beers to end a action packed day.