Koh Chang - "Elephant Island"

The Koh Chang landscape - Ban Changthai elephant trek

After a little less than an hour, we turned back towards the Ban Changthai office and Suzanne and I started wondering if we were gonna get taken. Turns out, our party was the only one that purchased the 2 hour ride, so our mahouts wound up turning onto a trail that took us up into the jungles of Koh Chang. It was fabulous!


We turned off of the group into groves of some kind of rubber tree... They cut the bark and spiral off about 1 -2 feet, then place a cocunut at the base of the tree to collect the milky goo that bleeds out. Andy's mahout tapped one of the trees with pointed end of his ankusha (the tool they use to guide the elephants) and it started oozing. Weird.

Into the jungle... Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Trekking in the Thai jungle! - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Andy gets to be the mahout - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Suzanne feeds Makham after the ride - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Me feeding Makham - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Mama picks me up - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Me and Mama - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Baby O'Dat - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Mama and Baby O'Dat cool off! - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

Again, those eyes! Mama and Baby O'Dat - Ban Changthai, Koh Chang

After the Elephant trek, Suzanne and I decided to go hiking in the National Park (200 Baht to enter) to go see the Klong Plu Waterfall. It was a beautiful 1/2 km hike through unspoiled Thai jungle with a huge waterfall and a plunge pool that you can go swimming in to cool off - Never in the States!

Staghorn Fern - Koh Chang

For some scale, Me with Staghorn Fern - Koh Chang

Creek bed beside trail on hike up to Klung Plu waterfall - Koh Chang

Klong Plu Waterfall, Koh Chang



Me - Klong Plu Waterfall, Koh Chang

Tarantula on bungalow - Lemon Resort, Koh Chang

To give some scale, this guy was about as wide as my hand spread out from thumb to pinky!