Volunteer experience
About a month ago I returned to Denmark after almost 2 months in Thailand, most of the time spent in The Tiger Temple. It has been a fantastic experience, and I would like to share it with whoever wants to read it!!
It all started as a crazy idea in my head sitting at home in the dark and cold winter in Denmark. I had the opportunity to take two months of in school in the spring. I wanted to travel, to see something new, to do something meaningful and to work with animals without spending too much money (since I'm a student I don't really have any to spend…). Different things came into my mind, but after having seen an ad for the Animal Planet program about The Tiger Temple I wisited the websites there was no doubt in my mind - that was where I wanted to go!!! To be able to work with these big majestic cats, to be part of a project set up to help save these beautiful endangered animals, and to get to see some of Thailand at the same time, what more could I wish for? So I sent an e-mail and asked if it would be possible for me to come and stay, and as it turned out, it was actually possible!! I bought my tickets, got my vaccinations and packed my bag, ready to go, not really knowing what to expect when I arrived.
After 2 days in Bangkok I went with one bus to Kanchanaburi and with another bus out towards the Temple, and there I stood looking at the big sign saying that this was the road leading to the Temple, beginning to realize I was finally there after months of waiting.
I went to the office signed some papers, got a key to a room and Maha followed me up to the nice little house inside the Temple walls that were to be my home for the next 7 weeks. After that I went down to the canyon to meet the other volunteers, the monks and the staff - and of course the tigers!! Such an impressive sight - big grown tigers laying calmly sleeping in the beautiful canyon, tourists padding them and having there pictures taken next to them. Very impressive, but also quite scary in the beginning… The first two days I spent watching and learning the basics about tiger behaviour, and then I started actually working, amazing!! To wake up in the morning, knowing that 4 "little" cute tiger cubs are waiting for you, hearing them great you with that special prrrr sound when you come up to the cage, to go into the cage, clean it and wash the cubs - that was really something that could make me get out of bed with a smile!! For me mornings and evenings were the best times of the day, so peaceful, and so beautiful! The nature around the Temple is amazing, and the fact that lots of half tame animals roam around freely inside the temple walls was something I really loved! The view from our house was fantastic, I spent a lot of time just sitting there watching all the animals.
And the tigers… Wow!! I love tigers, I always have, and to be able to get so close to them was really a mindblowing experience! I have walked and washed the cubs, walked a full grown tiger (Vayo and Techo), I have had a tigers head (Herfa) in my lap, I have had a grown tiger (Techo) suck my finger and I have spent hours watching tigers play in the water, unbelievable, good thing I have pictures to prove it!! And I've also got a really cool scar to show off since I got bitten by one of the tigers (Dau Ruang)!! ? Another great thing was the possibility to get to know a lot of very nice people from all over the world and to get to know a lot about a culture and a religion so very different from what I'm used to here in Denmark. I regret that I didn't learned any thai before I came to Thailand, some very patient thai people tought me some, but I would have liked to be able to speak some more!!
I also got to see some of all the things in the area around the Temple and Kanchanaburi, some of the very beautiful scenery like Erawan National Park with the amazing 7-tired waterfall and some of the more scary things like The Hellfire Pass and The Death Railway.
All together it was a lifetime experience, and I had a very hard time leaving it all behind, and a hard time getting used to being back in Denmark, and I want to go back!! To see how the building of the Tiger Island is going, to see "my" cute little cubs and all the other tigers again, to once more feel the peacefulness of meditating in the Sala in the evening, and to meet some of the wonderful people I got to know there again. I feel very lucky to have had the chance to work in a place like this, and I hope that one day I can come back. Please visit the website and check the photos and if you can donate.
Mai Falk (Denmark)
Mai Falk was a Volunteer during 2006 in the Thailand Tiger Temple. Please consider donating to the temple so that more people can visit and the tigers can remain in the tempel.
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