Our day at Patara Elephant Farm was one of the highlights of our trip, hands down.
We were picked up from our hotel promptly at 7:30am and driven to the farm, then spent the rest of the day interacting with elephants. The theme of the day was that we would become "elephant caretakers" for the day - so we were each assigned an elephant and taught how to look after these gentle giants. But really it just felt like fun (once we got over the fear of being squashed by one of them)!
First stop of the day: hanging out with a new mother and her 10-day old baby.
Snapped a picture with the family.
Then Sarah sat down and played with the baby for a while. He was surprisingly playful for only 10 days old!
We fed the elephants - here I am giving Lekho some bananas.
Then bathed them.
They could lay down and get up on command - Meemai was happy to let us snap a picture with her while she was lounging on the ground.
Close up with Lekho post-shower.
After an hour break for lunch, we were instructed on the three ways to mount an elephant, none of which are very easy (and not very graceful for first timers). Once we were all successfully perched on our elephants, we began the hour-long hike through the forest to a waterfall.
Lekho hardly seemed to notice me up there.
Almost time to cool off in the water.
When we got down to the water, the elephants were quick to jump right in - it was a hot day and they wanted to cool off! We joined them after a few minutes to help scrub them down.
Once we'd finished cleaning them, the trainers lined up the elephants behind us and, predictably, they sprayed us. Even though we were all pretty much expecting it, the cold water was still a bit of a shock!
One last picture of just the two of us getting sprayed.
After waiting a few minutes for the photographer to load all these photos onto a CD for us, we were headed back to our hotel in Patara's shuttle bus. The day was not over for us, though. Sarah wisely assumed we'd be a little sore after the long day with elephants so she booked us a two-hour Thai massage right afterward. The massage was the perfect way to end the day - very different than other massages we've gotten, but it left us feeling very limber and relaxed!
Spending today with the elephants at Patara was really a bucket list moment. We had such an incredible experience and cannot recommend it highly enough to everyone!