One Day Non Tourist Trek

A one-day jungle trek run by Mr. Whisky, a small local trekking outfit, for people who want to spend a whole day outside rather than an afternoon on a tour bus. It combines time with elephants, a proper walk in the forest, a lunch cooked in the jungle, bamboo rafting and a waterfall swim.

You are picked up at your hotel between 7:00 and 7:30 in the morning and driven out of Chiang Mai. The first stop is the elephants, where you help with their shower and feed them. Then the walking starts. The trek takes around three hours, and along the way your guide shows you how people get by in the forest: which plants are useful, how to find water, how a jungle kitchen works. Lunch is cooked out there over a fire, with bamboo doing the job of pot, cup and plate.

In the afternoon you float down the river on a bamboo raft for 30 to 45 minutes and cool off with a swim at a waterfall before the drive back. You are dropped at your hotel around 5:00 to 5:30 in the evening.

Expect a real trek with uneven ground, some climbing and, in the rainy season, mud. Wear shoes you can walk in for a few hours and bring a swimsuit and a towel. The pace is relaxed and the group is small, but you should be comfortable on your feet for most of the day.