Mother did most of the itinerary planning before we left the UK and I had asked her not to tell me what we were doing until we got to Thailand. When packing, she had specifically said I would need an outfit to cover my shoulders and down to below the knees that was not red or orange. I had not expected the reason for that to be tigers!
Mother booked this package online, which involved a very early collection for a two hour drive out of the city of Bangkok out to a town called Kanchanaburi, home to the only Tiger Temple in Thailand. We had our own personal guide for the day who took us first to the River Kwai to see the sun come up.
The trip we had booked started with donating breakfast to the monks at the temple and having breakfast with the monks. I recommend you grab yourself a banana or snack as there is no set time for the monk’s breakfast, and will only begin once they have ended their morning discussions.
While they nattered on, we got on with bottle feeding tiger cubs. They weren’t too fussed with the whole feeding thing and were much more interested in sleeping or grooming themselves.
Started by Buddhist monks, Tiger Temple began taking in tiger cubs orphaned due to poachers. They now have 148 tigers, 120 of which were born there and raised by the monks and workers. We were only allowed to interact with the cubs born there as they’re obviously much tamer, and used to human interaction.
Breakfast at the temple was not exactly what we had expected, and we did not enjoy the food one bit. As I mentioned before, there isn’t really any differentiation between meals, but cold curry isn’t my idea of breakfast unless severely hungover.
The experience with the tigers for the rest of the morning was probably one of my most memorable of the trip. Each person in the group, total of about 12, were able to spend time walking with one of the cubs we had been feeding, followed by washing, feeding and playing with them.
Just playing with some tigers. Casual.
The particular tour we had booked included an elephant ride so we were off to the Muang Sing Elephant Camp.
Another breath-taking experience (literally having a little panic attack up there to start with).
We rounded off the day with lunch at a local spot. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant we were taken to, but just rest assured if you book this trip you will be well fed!
I would recommend this trip to everyone. There’s another place that is more widely adverstised call Tiger Kingdom, based in Chiang Mai and Phuket. People get good pictures lying on tigers and nestling under their paws, but are not thinking how sedated that tiger must be for that to happen. In nearly every picture of Tiger Kingdom I have seen, tigers are in cages and sleeping on concrete. One picture even showed the tigers “swimming”… in a swimming pool. Tiger Temple isn’t exactly the wild, but I would much rather see them in large areas of natural water swimming like this.
If you’re planning a tiger excursion just do some research and I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time!
– Tiger Conservation Thailand (and here)
– Save Elephant Foundation
*UPDATE* 25/01/16 – There’s been a post published by National Geographic highlighting the controversy of animal encounters in Thailand, and suggesting illegal tiger trade involving Tiger Temple. If you’re interested in reading you can do here, but as I said before – do a wide range of research before booking anything.
I think you need to read this……..
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160121-tiger-temple-thailand-trafficking-laos0/
The temple has been mired in controversy for years………
Hi, thanks for that! Like I said, I urge anyone to do their research before they book anything. I'm aware there's controversy surrounding all of the animal encounters. That article came out yesterday, I visited a month ago. I stand by that I had a lovely time, and all the Tigers (around 20) I encountered were all in a good physical state, no signs of any of the mistreatment brought up in that article or report. I'll add it to the post if anyone is interested to read!