By Barna Achebe
Thailand is a country that has an abundance of wildlife, and many tourists wish to experience and see this when they visit. If you are an animal lover and you are going to visit Thailand, you will want to do some research on some of the best places to visit. Below you will find a selection of some of the best ethical animal attractions where you will get to see nature in all its glory, safe in the knowledge that the animals are well taken care of and not exploited.
Playing With The Elephants
Elephants are an iconic animal of Thailand, and they are one of the animals that everyone wants to see when they visit. Over the last few years, ethical elephant parks have become the norm throughout the country, no longer allowing people to ride on them. However, visiting an elephant nature park still enables you to get close to these gentle giants, and you can interact with them by feeding them, and also bathing them. If there is one animal you see when you visit Thailand, make sure it is the elephants.
Gibbon Rehabilitation
The gibbon at one time was a common sight in the tropical jungles of Phuket, Southern Thailand, but with human expansion into their natural habitat, they were poached to extinction in this part of the country. Move on 40 years, and the gibbons are back where they belong with a rehabilitation centre in Phuket helping to care for these primates and releasing them back into the rainforest. A visit here will not only give you a glimpse of these fascinating animals, but you will also be helping to conserve them for the generations to come.
Take A Safari At Night
Another popular destination for tourists to see animals living in a natural environment is the Night Safari in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Although the park is open during the day, it is not until the early evening that it starts to get busy, with tourists and locals alike flocking to see the animals. The night safari takes in a wide variety of different animals and is similar to a safari park in the West where you drive your car through the enclosures. However, here you will be driven around in an open tour bus which will also allow you to feed some of the animals such as deer, giraffes, zebras, and buffalo.
Other attractions do treat their animals ethically in Thailand as well, and before you book a tour or plan a visit, ensure that you do your research to make sure that they are an ethical attraction. As tourists, if we stop visiting places that exploit the animals for profit, these facilities will eventually shut down, and the animals can lead happy and natural lives once more.
