Tigerrrrrrrsssss!!!!!!

To say I was excited about this trip is a massive understatement! I first visited the Tiger Temple on my 49th birthday last year and was overwhelmed at how peaceful these gorgeous creatures were.

I was also a bit apprehensive thinking it might not be as good this time, just because I was looking forward to it so much. Turns out I needn’t have worried.

I got my friendly Tuk Tuk driver to take me over to Khao San Road to pick up the mini-bus, and being the Anal-Annie that I am I had him collect me a full 90 minutes before I needed to be there just because I was concerned about the morning rush-hour traffic. Of course my ‘balls of steel’ driver was darting in and out of the traffic, driving on the opposite side of the road, and generally being a crazy man so I was there within 30 minutes! Just as well I hadn’t had breakfast I guess.

The bars and restaurants on the KSR don’t seem to ever close and as I tucked into my scrambled eggs I surveyed my fellow diners - there were a couple of working girls having a breakfast of toast and orange flavoured Bacardi Breezer, and western bloke who looked like he’d been living in a skip for at least half his young life, necking a lager and trying to persuade his companion to take him off for a bit of early morning jiggy-jig, somehow the girl managed to resist that temptation! There were four guys who’d been travelling maybe a wee bit too long downing beers and putting the world to rights, as you do. Fascinating. There’s at least a couple of novels’ worth of stories in these few tables!

Finally it was time to get on the bus and get off to Kantanaburi. The group this time weren’t as friendly as the last bunch I travelled with, although one Dutch girl very kindly shared her cold with me. Still it didn’t matter, I read some of the magazines I’d been saving up for the trip, I slept and the three hours passed soon enough. The guide was telling us we might be able to bottle feed some very young cubs, needless to say I was well up for that one. Of course it would cost extra, but what the hell.

The numbers had increased too since my last trip. Then there were 54 tigers, now there’s 80! The story goes that when the first tiger wandered into the temple grounds he was recognised as a reincarnated monk. I’m trying not to be cynical, but I doubt all 80 of the current residents were monks in the past - but you never know. They also have a family of black bears, not sure they were monks either, but the cubs were very cute.


In just 18 months it has gotten even more commercialised. As you enter you drive through a huge tiger’s mouth, and there’s a massive stone statue of a tiger and her cub that wasn’t there before. Apparently they are rebuilding the temple too, but trying to find the current one is a bit difficult!

Sadly the cub feeding was already full, so I opted for playing with the slightly older ones (12 months and upwards). For an extra 1000 baht we would get to wash them and feed them too. Fair enough. I gave my rucksack to the tour guide, removed my shoes and sunglasses and off we went backstage.

Now, last time I was here, it was baking hot and the sun was burning up the sky all of the tigers bar the 5 month old were half asleep. As we got to the prep area, the heavens opened and the woman who was explaining the rules said this was a good thing as the tigers love it when it rains and it’s cooler.

I was led by the hand through and into the pit. There was grass, concrete and a pool, the same pool I’d seen a tiger pooing in earlier. She was leading me down into the edge of the pool so I rolled up my trousers - pointlessly as it turned out - I’d just stood up again when the tigers appeared. Wow! These ones weren’t half asleep! They were big and lively and up for a play in the water. I had a long bamboo pole with an inflated plastic bag on the end, along with a rubber duck. The idea was to bang it in the water and move it about, just like you would if you were playing with a cat. They responded like cats too! Just much, much bigger, with huge teeth and massive paws.

We’d been told to stand still otherwise they’d chase us and not the toys, so when a pair of rather large beasts started play fighting no more than six inches away from me I stayed stock still. My guide yanked me away. Apparently you’re allowed to move when there’s two of em fighting that closely.

The tigers really seemed to enjoy getting the humans wet and between them splashing us and the torrential downpour we were all drenched, but it didn’t matter somehow. I cannot describe the sheer joy I felt in my heart being this close to these amazing animals. I reckon the only thing that could top it would be to be doing this with a bunch of apes. Sadly, as far as I’m aware no monks have been reincarnated as monkeys yet.

I was pretty spent after the play session but the experience wasn’t over. We went backstage again and after we were hosed down - the pool was full of tiger poo and wee and didn’t smell great - it was time to wash the tigers. I’m not sure why I felt no fear as I massaged the soap into his back but I didn’t. He didn’t seem to mind it either.

Then it was dinner time, and I confess holding a big old chunk of chicken in my hand and seeing those teeth as he came towards me to take it did cause my heart to quicken, but again, just the most amazing experience.


I know I sound all gushing, but if you ever get the opportunity to visit this place, please do. I know there is all kind of negativity on the net about the place, but I saw no signs of ill treatment, and these ones sure as hell hadn’t been drugged. In an ideal world, yes they would be roaming wild with lots of land to live and hunt and reproduce, but this world is far from ideal and something tells me that if these beasts where unhappy, we’d know about it.

As for me, I know I will be back, but I really cannot think of a way that I can top this experience!