Jenni goes east: The queen of the jungle

The third and final instalment of our South East Asia tour was a real once in a lifetime experience; elephant hills! The camp included an elephant sanctuary, luxury tented accommodation and a jam-packed schedule of seeing the surrounding national park beauty. It was honestly the most incredible 3 days...

After a 3 hour drive up from Phuket (99% of which I obviously spent napping), we arrived at the beautiful camp! It was the most stunning scenery ever and the tents themselves were the luxury advertised on the tin. They had electricity, a lovely comfy bed, a proper working shower, toiletries, fan, mosquito nets and even towels adorably shaped into elephants (they made it what us westerners would call "glamping"). Although it was weird adjusting to no air con in the 100% humidity after a whole week of setting the thermostat as cold as it would go, but it was cooler there so we managed.

When you stay at elephant hills, it's not like a hotel or camp site where you just book your accommodation and then do as you please; you have to book one of their pre-set tours. We went with the 3 day 2 night jungle tour and so we had our exciting itinerary all mapped out, starting with the best activity of all; the elephant experience. Just before anyone worries that this is the kind of place where they use elephants for tourism and let you ride them and stuff, it was nothing like that. The elephants they look after are retired or rescued show elephants (previously used for those kinds of industries) and we specifically chose this for being ethical and treating the animals well (which it was clear they did). So obviously, there was no riding or anything like that as part of the experience. What we did do was get to learn more about them (their names, ages, quirks), stroke them and interact with them up close, feed them and watch them take a quick dip! It was honestly so magical. It was crazy to me how they were so majestic and yet so cute at the same time, and they were all so unique and playful too. The guides told us a story about how one of the oldest elephants there has gone blind and so one of the other elephants is like her best friend who helps her get around and do stuff (literally nearly cried at that). It was also crazy how much they eat! All the fruit and sugar cane and stuff that we prepped for them was apparently like the equivalent of us eating an apple or something; the tiniest of snacks. 

After waving goodbye to the elephants and letting them slump off for an afternoon nap, we were onto our next activity. This time, we were off to canoe down the river sok, thankfully in a manned boat and not one we had to paddle ourselves (as the current was pretty strong and we probably would've ended up moored). The whole time we were in elephant hills it was hard to get used to the surrounding beauty. It's like nowhere I've been in the world before, and everywhere you look feels like it should be captured and hung on a wall. We also saw some other cool things on our travels; a couple of snakes and birds that the guides pointed out (they were so disguised I have no idea how they even managed to spot them), and some people even saw a monkey!

The fun didn't stop when the sun went down though, as there were plenty of evening activities going on too! First up was a dance presentation by some girls from the local school, and then a cooking demonstration where they showed us how to make coconut chicken. The whole camp was all inclusive and we were in for a right treat with the food. Everything was so authentic and tasty and the crispy tofu was a particular favourite! Something that I didn't love so much was what the crazy jungle humidity did to my hair - it was growing outwards by the minute! I took the decision at the start of the night that it would look crazy by the end of it no matter what I did, so I ditched the straighteners and left it au natural. I figured it matched the wild theme of my zebra print outfit anyway.

The next day we were off in a suitably safari-themed truck for a day at Cheow Lan lake. We started at this beautiful view point, where we did the classic trek all the way up a big hill, admire the view from the top for about 10 minutes and then trek all the way back down again!

It was time to swap our mode of transportation from safari truck to traditional longtail boat, as we got to explore the lake properly! The views were some of the most beautiful I've ever seen and every corner that we turned was more impressive than the last. Just look at the colour of that water!

Elephant hills have a sister camp on the lake, which is where we spent the afternoon (which you can also stay at but they don't have proper electricity so it was less appealing for us). It was so beautiful, the cocktails were lovely, the lunch was amazing and you could even take a kayak out if you fancied. We opted to chill instead; I would say we went for a little dip but even when you sat on the edge of the dock with your feet dangled over the edge, all these massive coy carp tried to nip at your toes!

As you can imagine, there were no nightclubs near elephant hills so that evening was much of the same as the one before. We ate good food, we drank good wine and we played cards until we called it a night. I was obsessed with my dress for the last night. White always feels like a good last night option and this dress was just the perfect jungle option. Again, not much could be done about my hair but atleast I had the good sense to put it up this time.

The next day was our home day (cry) but we had one last epic activity scheduled in before we departed. In fact, this one was the one I was least excited about and yet it massively exceeded my expectations. We were down to do a jungle trek by foot to explore the Thai rainforest. As much as I like a walk, outdoors and bugs and exhaustion are not typically my favourite so I expected it to only be so-so. Honestly, it was another totally amazing day! Our guide showed us round the rainforest and told us loads of fascinating facts and stories, teaching us about plants and animals and the local way of life. It was quite a gentle trek too so it wasn't too exhaustive, although it involved a lot of careful footing (lots of slippy surfaces and steep hills just asking me to fall down them).

The itinerary said we'd be served lunch at the end of the trek but it didn't say we'd be served it in the heart of the jungle! We enjoyed coconut water fresh from the coconut, meat slow BBQ'd over a charcoal pit, chicken curry and Thai scrambled eggs prepared fresh in front of us, and then delightfully chopped pineapple to finish! What a way to end a truly incredible trip. Well, almost end - I naturally squeezed in time for a quick dip and sunbathe before it was time to pack up!

And then it was time to wave goodbye to elephant hills and all the amazing guides there, trek the long journey back to the airport, trek the long journey back to Doha, trek the long journey back to London and then trek the long journey back to Nottingham. It's fair to say we were all feeling wiped out by the time we actually got home, but what a trip it had been. Considering the disappointment we felt when our African safari got cancelled at the (fairly) last minute, we managed a pretty incredible replacement. You know what they say; when life gives you lemons, go on the trip of a lifetime.