During our family holiday to Phuket with kid(s) staying at the Outrigger Laguna Beach Resort we really enjoy engaging with Candi the elephant.
So what did Candi the elephant do?
Candi the elephant is still a baby and lives with her handler down the road from the Phuket resort entrance. Twice a day she and her handler walk up to the resort to entertain the guests.
We see her most mornings on her stage as we return from the lovely buffet breakfast. She puts on quite the show.
Standing on her hind legs.
Doing a handstand.
She then expects a little reward for her efforts – banana and/or money.
She is very polite and bows to say thank you, before heading back home for a well deserved rest.
Mid afternoon she returns and makes her way towards the pool.
She stops to give anyone a kiss who’ll let her. I have to say it is the weirdest sensation, a bit wet and slobbery as she wraps her strong trunk around my neck – it gives me goose bumps.
Then proceeds to give the kids a shower, who shout in delight and beg for more.
Afterwards the kids hop out the pool and shake hands to say thank you and give her a little reward.
Whilst we all so enjoy our daily interactions with Candi the elephant, I am also torn with the fact she is kept in captivity and utilised in this way to make money for handler.
But it is a different way of life in Thailand from Australia. So I just accept and enjoy the experience.
Would you or your kids enjoy meeting Candi the Phuket elephant?
Don’t forget to check out the rest of my Family Phuket Holiday – Travel Stories.
Linking up with:
- With Some Grace #FYBF
- Pierced Wonderings #PhotoFriday
- Four Around the World #SnapshotStory
- My Travel Monkey #MondayEscapes
- Budget Travelers Sandbox #TPThursday
These pictures are just gorgeous! We’re hoping to get to Phuket next 🙂
I’m hoping we get back there next year Aleney. It is a destination I have enjoyed before kids and since having one.
My kids would adore Candi but I would also be torn about the fact she is being used in such a way. You certainly wouldn’t see that anywhere else, would you?
Yes I think it is a Thai thing Kirsty.
How fascinating! I love her – that face is just so expressive! I too share your reservations and hesitations about an animal kept in captivity to serve as entertainment for the rest of us. I don’t quite know how to reconcile that.
Thank you for sharing with us for Photo Friday!
her face is wonderful Jen, and at least she does look happy.
Sally-Ann that looks like a great family holiday. We went to an elephant place in Bangkok but would love a holiday here with Candi. Thank you for sharing with us at #TheWeeklyPostcard
There are so many way to experience the elephants in Thailand, Lyn. But I have to say this was lovely and felt a bit more personal.
I personally found this post so very sad and disturbing…you say “it’s a different way of life in Thailand from Australia. So I just accept and enjoy the experience.” Enjoying it, writing about it, promoting it is just encouraging this kind of unethical tourism, if we opposed such horrible practices and don’t partake in them, the demand for it will go down. As travellers and even more so as travel bloggers, surely we can take on that much responsibility, no matter where we come from, to say NO to such practices and not promote it like this.
Hi Samiya, yes I suppose I could not participate with enjoying watch the elephant and drag my child away from the experience. But I chose to enjoy it.
Sally-Ann, will you please be so kind and display our badge at the end of your post? You most likely forgot, but it’s a rule that we ask everybody to abide by. You can copy the code at the end of the post on which you link-ed up and paste into the text editor mode at the end of your post. Or, if it’s easier to you, you can display this code in a widget, on your side bar. This way you don’t have to worry about displaying your code every week. Thank you for understanding. Hope to see you here again next week.
Hi Anda, it is in the side bar if you look. If that is not good enough please respond this time, so I do not bother participating again.
I didn’t notice it there, Sally-Ann. My mistake!
Hi Anda, no problems just scroll a little slower next time 🙂
It’s a difficult one isn’t it. I remember we went to see the Elephants at the Rose Garden when we stayed in Bangkok many years ago and it made me feel very uncomfortable. But you have to hope that this would give children a love of elephants and a thirst to learn more about them and what they should really be doing #MondayEscapes
It is a difficult one Mary. I looked at Candi the elephant and thought she looked happy, well cared for, not abused, and well fed. We stayed at the resort for 2 weeks and saw her handler with her all the time, not just at the resort but also in the large lush fields outside the hotel where she lived.
It’s a tough one isn’t it? While you want to enjoy it, you wonder how life in captivity can be cruel for these animals and the training they have to endure to perform these tricks. I am the same as Monkey loves watching dolphin shows and I’ve watched Black Fish, which doesn’t make good viewing. But like you said, you just have to enjoy the moment. Great photos! Thanks for linking up with #MondayEscapes
I think Ting if I can see the animals are not mistreated, but have learnt to perform for a treat, I can enjoy the performance. Because in away don’t we do that with our household pets.
That is amazing! What memories you have!
Thanks Freda, it’s fun flicking back through the travel photos.
So cute! It’s an amazing experience but sad too about the captivity. Hopefully she is treated well by her owners. Thanks for linking up at #snapshotstory
She appeared to be well looked after by her handler Holly, so I felt a bit better about enjoying her little performances.
She may love her life & handler. Hopefully. It’s hard not to love being up close with such a grand animal 🙂 very exciting.
I would love to experience an encounter like this with a baby elephant, perhaps it would be better in their natural environment. I think they are beautiful creatures. I also share you reservations about her being held in captivity like this. It’s sad to see, however what can you do when your in a foreign country?
The more and more comments I have read from this post has really got me thinking and reflecting about how we as humans treat animals and it really just isn’t people in foreign countries who are responsible for this. We all contain our pets in our homes too small for them to run wild, we enjoy going to see magic shows with tigers on the stage in cages and take the kids to the circus with animal trapped in small trailers. In a way this little baby elephant was far better treated than what we do to animals in the western world.
I totally agree with you Sally-Ann! By no means did I mean to portray that I believe it only happens in foreign countries. We are not exempt from the way we treat animals in our care. I don’t agree with animals being still allowed to be part of a circus performance at all. It’s a complex issue that the world faces. I think in situations like this meeting with the baby elephant I would be inclined to not pay for a trick or show and perhaps donate that money to an animal sanctuary in that country.
Hi Ruthie, I didn’t mean to imply that you believed it only happened in foreign countries. Just that the entire issue is becoming quite a lively discussion. I really like your idea of a donation to an animal sanctuary.
Once upon a time I would have been happy but now I would be too guilty, especially as she was probably taken away from her mother. I guess there are humans in very poor conditions in these countries too. Thanks for posting though because discussion is always good. She is very cute!
She was very cute Jan, and hard to avoid as we would pass her every morning on our way back to our room after breakfast and of course all the children loved her.
I just read through all the other comments. Yes, I’d agree that it’d be so hard to tear my kids away from a cute, adorable baby elephant like Candi. Still, it does get a person thinking about what life holds for this animal. If you ever have a chance to visit Chiang Mai, Thailand, I encourage you to spend at least a day at Elephant Nature Park. They offer an alternative experience with elephants — one where humans go visit the elephants in their home instead of vice versa. None of that elephant riding, though. It’s all about serving the elephants, not the other way around. There’s a rather heart wrenching documentary movie that they show at the end about the difficult life of elephants who are trained to perform, give rides to tourists or beg at the side of the road.
The place in Chiang Mai sounds really good. My husband reminded me that Candi the elephant was an orphan and so in a way it is fortunate that she has her handler to care for her.
Candi is a cutie! I have to admit that it makes me sad to see this. I have spent a lot of time in Thailand, and have learned that quite often the animals are treated very badly when learning the tricks. Thanks for linking up this week. #TPThursday
I agree Nancie it can be appalling how badly animals are treated to learn how we humans want them to behave. I felt a little better knowing that Candi was rescued from being orphaned and appears well treated now.