Nature and outdoors

Body, Soul: Outdoor activities in Chiang Mai

Elephant care and wood-walks in Thailand

Soul: For the love of elephants

Elephants in nature park, Chiang Mai
Tristan Brown / Moment RF / Getty Images

A stay at the Elephant Nature Park is an enthralling yet humbling experience. A sanctuary for orphaned, blind and disabled elephants, the centre’s hands-on, week-long volunteer programme includes feeding and bathing the animals, all of whom have their own charming personalities and challenging histories. Being so close to elephants – considered sacred animals in Thailand – will leave you feeling transformed.

elephantnaturepark.org

Body: View from the treetops

Flight of the Gibbon, Chiang Mai
Chedtha Nuilek

Flight of the Gibbon is a network of zip lines, bridges and nets that lets visitors experience the rainforest like the ape it’s named after, swinging from tree to tree, feet never touching the ground. Tours last several hours and pass through territory occupied by wild gibbons, so if you’re lucky you might spot one. This programme helps to fund conservation of gibbons, an endangered species.

treetopasia.com

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Discovery online brings together all the inspirational travel writing from our two inflight magazines, Discovery and Silkroad. Be sure to look out for the print editions when you next fly with Cathay Pacific or Cathay Dragon.
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