So today, we thought we'd pay a visit to Tiger Kingdom, just outside Chiang Mai. Most of the tigers are hand raised by trainers so they are used to human interactions and being petted. We got a taxi pickup there and the driver waits outside for you until you're ready to go back to Chiang Mai. There is some controversy surrounding whether the tigers are drugged or not, so I thought I would come and see for myself. You can basically choose to go in with various ages, ranging from the smallest tigers 2-4 months, the small 5-10 months, the medium 11-15 months and the large cats are 16-36 months. If you like, you can go in with all of the tigers, but it's quite expensive, so we decided to go in with two age groups. Apparently, there's not much difference between the small and smallest ones, so we opted for the small ones, it was cheaper.

Once we decided our package, we went inside the park and there were tigers you could see from the restaurant. They have enclosures where the tigers are not in cages, but just wandering around. They are not huge enclosures, but the tigers do have enough room to run about a bit. There were loads of people here, so there were big queues. While we were waiting to go in the cages, we had a wander around and saw some Siberian white tigers. They were huge and had really blue eyes. They were only in a small cage, but there was a door panel that was open, so they had the choice to go out of the cage if they wanted to. They also had a lion in a cage, which was fierce looking and had a huge mane. There were also more tigers in cages around the back, which are kept for breeding.

Tiger time- small tigers!

Our ticket number got called out, so we followed the photographer into the cage. There are the tiger trainers inside, along with other photographers for other groups and around 10 small tigers. They didn't look really small to me, but perhaps that's because i'm petite. They were pretty cute and very playful though, so they definitely didn't seem like they were drugged to me. The photographers got us to pose and sit right next to the tigers. We were even encouraged to lay on them. The main rules are that you're not allowed to stroke them near the head or face, touch their front paws, or walk in front of them. You are allowed to stroke them firmly on the belly or pick up their tail, you can touch their back paws. So the photographer got me to pick up the tail for some photos, and then leaving on the tiger for some others. We also had to hold our hands up like we were tigers! It was all a bit staged and fake for me.

The little tigers were so cute and they kept running about and playing with one another, rolling around on the floor. I love to observe their behaviour, but while we were inside their enclosure, it did all feel rushed. You're supposed to have 15 minutes inside the cage, but it certainly didn't feel like we were in there for that long. We chose to have the photographer because we don't usually get many pictures together, but actually they didn't take many pictures of us together. No sooner were we in the cage, then we had to leave. It was lovely to see the small tigers playing and interacting with each other. The trainers must have gained such a trust with them as none tried to bite anyone, although they were playful.

Big tigers

We had to wait another 20 minutes or so before being taken into the big tiger enclosure. In this one, there was a swimming pool with a tiger who was prowling around it. The trainers were trying to encourage it to jump into the pool. They had a long bamboo stick with some leaves attached, which they were putting in front of the tigers nose. Basically teasing it and trying to make it jump up high so it makes a big splash in the water! It was kind of funny to see this big tiger jumping up in the water metres in front of people!

Our photographer was not the same one we had with the small tigers. I was glad, as this photographer was more friendly end started to take more pictures of us both. We had to both lay with one of the big tigers and lay right behind it. They are probably much larger than me, so every time the tiger rolled around or moved its paw, I kept jumping back. After my experience of working with a puma, I am not nervous being around big cats. I guess it's just instincts trying to protect myself. Although neither Gato or the tigers tried to actually bite me. They are just huge, graceful animals, and to be this close to them was am amazing feeling. I would like more time in the cage to interact with them, but I understand it's not possible. They have huge crowds of people coming here everyday. It must be one of the only places in the world that you can get up close to a tiger, so a lot of people take advantage of that by coming to see them here.

Tiger splashing us!

Next, it was our turn to go and get our pictures done with the tiger in the pool. The trainer did as he was doing before, waving the stick around getting the tiger to follow it. Meanwhile they got us to stand next to the pool and our photographer stood the other side of the pool. When the trainer got the tiger to jump into the pool, there was an almighty splash of water, which got us drenched. It was crazy to think that this tiger was jumping towards us in the pool and we were metres in front of it. It did make us both laugh hysterically though. The photographer certainly captured the moment, but we were also trying to take pictures of the tiger jumping up in the water too! It was a bit of fun, and I think the tiger enjoyed it too. Although, I haven't heard of many cats that like jumping in a pool of water.

We had one more tiger to get pictures with, where I laid on the tiger. It didn't feel comfortable for me, the tiger wasn't bothered by it and was just sleepy. Then the photographer asked John to come in and have a picture laying next to me by the tiger. He was telling us to pretend to be asleep, but how could you when you're next to a huge tiger! This was the only tiger that we saw sleeping completely. The others were awake and moving around. It is a known fact that cats, including tigers can sleep for up to 18 hours a day. I know my cats at home sleep for most of the day. At Tiger Kingdom, the tigers are trained to be awake during the day and sleep at night. So I don't believe the tigers are drugged here. There aren't any visible signs of that happening that I can see.

Newborn tigers

When we'd finished with the big tigers, we had to wait for our pictures to be given to us in reception. While we were waiting, we went to see the newborn tigers. They were a month old and were the cutest little things I had seen since the baby orang-utans! They were kept in an incubator when first born, but had now been moved into a small cage being kept in quarantine until they are strong enough to be released. The cage was a white one and the bars were thick, so I couldn't get a decent picture of them. I just wanted to go up and cuddle them. There were only 2 of them, and in the park, they say that 1 or 2 tigers are born each month. These tigers will soon be the ones playing around with the tourists. I couldn't help feel a little sorry for them as they will have a life in captivity being in human contact all the time. I did really enjoy seeing all the tigers in the park though. We then collected the pictures and went outside where our driver was waiting eagerly to take us back to Chiang Mai.