Kanchanaburi, Thailand - the Tiger Temple
So called because a monk offered to take in a orphaned tiger and ended up raising several orphaned tigers to adulthood at the temple. It is now open to the public for a $7 entrance fee. The tigers are brought out in the afternoon so that visitors can touch and have pictures taken with them to raise money for a new tiger project. They plan to upgrade and expand the park and they also hope to train newly born tiger cubs with the skills needed to survive in the wild and reintroduce them into the wild again. The Tiger Temple is about 2 1/2 hours from Bangkok.
When I went there the tigers were out in the canyon area and I got to sit next to, pet and have my picture taken with 5-different tigers. A very neat but strange experience. Tigers are VERY BIG! One of them was unchained, the others were on 15-20 foot chains. I was so close (touching them) that the tiger would have had no trouble chomping on me even with the chain. Every so often a tiger gets kind of feisty and the keepers and the head monk have to calm him down. I saw this happen a couple of times. For about $25 you can have pictures taken holding the tigers head in your arms. I noticed they only used one specific tiger for the head holding photo shots.
The temple area (looks more like a game park) has also attracted other aninmals that the monks take care of as well; wild horses, goats, boars, deer and a sun bear among others. They're all strolling around free in the park, except for the bear, which was on a long leash held by a monk.
It was definitely worth the trip out there!
So called because a monk offered to take in a orphaned tiger and ended up raising several orphaned tigers to adulthood at the temple. It is now open to the public for a $7 entrance fee. The tigers are brought out in the afternoon so that visitors can touch and have pictures taken with them to raise money for a new tiger project. They plan to upgrade and expand the park and they also hope to train newly born tiger cubs with the skills needed to survive in the wild and reintroduce them into the wild again. The Tiger Temple is about 2 1/2 hours from Bangkok.
When I went there the tigers were out in the canyon area and I got to sit next to, pet and have my picture taken with 5-different tigers. A very neat but strange experience. Tigers are VERY BIG! One of them was unchained, the others were on 15-20 foot chains. I was so close (touching them) that the tiger would have had no trouble chomping on me even with the chain. Every so often a tiger gets kind of feisty and the keepers and the head monk have to calm him down. I saw this happen a couple of times. For about $25 you can have pictures taken holding the tigers head in your arms. I noticed they only used one specific tiger for the head holding photo shots.
The temple area (looks more like a game park) has also attracted other aninmals that the monks take care of as well; wild horses, goats, boars, deer and a sun bear among others. They're all strolling around free in the park, except for the bear, which was on a long leash held by a monk.
It was definitely worth the trip out there!
posted by Chris at 11:00 AM
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