Chai Lai Orchid and adorable elephants

During our Trip in Chiang Mai, we stayed also in a place called Chai Lai Orchid. I found it by coincidence through airbnb and the pictures in their website immediately convinced me that we must visit there.

The founder of this jungle resort, Alexa is an American women who has founded a nonprofit organization called “Daughters rising” trying to help women under risk of sex trafficking. She is running Chai Lai Orchid as a social business, through which she funds the NGO’s activities. Sex trafficking for women in Thailand, as in many other countries, is a huge issue and not discussed as much as it should. Alexa is looking for volunteers to help her, and welcome them to stay in this wonderful place at least for two weeks.

entrance to Chai Lai Orchid

We stayed in a simple but comfortable hut in the middle of the jungle. Toilet and shower, bed and a mattress for the kids and a beautiful view for the river down below. What else do you need?

Food was done by the local villagers and some of the ingredients were from the own gardens and nearby villages. Chai Lai Orchid offers educational and paid vocational training opportunities to at-risk girls and young mothers. All of the staff at Chai Lai come from the local underprivileged hill tribe/refugee community and receive paid on-the-job hospitality training through their social program. So, good reasons to visit and help out while staying and enjoying the great hospitality.

During the nighttime the jungle got extremely noisy with all the unfamiliar animal sounds which made it first a bit difficult to sleep in the night. Second night was already easier. Have to admit that I get a bit jumpy when I think about all those bugs, insects and other crawlers, but perhaps they think the same about us. Girls loved to be inside the mosquito nets playing princess and camping but we all got bitten quite badly and felt itchy all the time. Nevertheless being in the nature, watching the view and being close to the elephants was definitely worth it.

Next to the camp on the other side of the river lives a group of elephants. They belong to a local man who is running a small business with them. In Thailand there aren’t too many free elephants anymore. The estimated number is around 200 to 250. Also their traditional use for harvesting and work purposes is nearly fully finished.

It feels sad that these gorgeous animals are abused for money, used mainly for tourists entertainment and often their living conditions are poor. Majority of the touristic elephant rides are done with a metal seat, which are heavy and uncomfortable to carry, but the benefit of these seats are that they get more rides done, so the profits are higher.

Positively there is a new trend for more ecological and animal friendly elephant camps, which are focusing on animals better living conditions and health. I recommend to spend some time with the elephants if possible. Just pick the place carefully, so you support those, who treats elephants well.

Elephants live as long as humans and majority of the animals were already in their adult ages. There was a four years old Dodi which looked almost like an adult but behaved like a puppy. Bit nasty in mind, teasing others and playing all the time. We scrubbed and rode on him in the river. He stole our bananas and our hearts. Of course there were couple of babies too. Extremely cute ones, but already so strong that if they twisted their trunk around your hand, it was really easy for them to pull you on your knees. We get to be really close to them. We fed the elephants with bananas and leaves, played, washed and just watched them closely.

In our last day we woke up 5.30 on the morning with the sun rise and had a ride on their bare neck in the forest. It was raining heavily and misty, but all this made it really magical. One Mahout, (person, who is taking care and riding with the elephants) was riding with me and Lara (who really freaked out) , Nico and Ada was following us with another elephant. As whole our stay there was an unforgettable experience, not just the ride, but to live with elephants…

Another great activitiy we did during our visit in Chai Lai Orchid was a trekking trip to the rice paddies and close by mountain. We picked the easiest route because of the girls, but even though it was only a 45min walk, we went through some real jungle and steep hills. During our walk through the rice fields, it again started to rain cats and dogs. But the weather was so warm that we didn’t mind to get wet. We visited a hill tribe (Karen) village and saw the local way of life and the traditional crafts they make. We also got a really good lunch made by the villagers and cleaned us up in the river.

Back to our camp we rode in style with a bamboo raft. If you want to get away for some nature , and adventure we would definitely recommend Chiang Mai, and Chai Lai Orchid.