**** Star Sight

Tiger Temple Kanchanaburi

One of the more bizarre and often the most memorable activity during a stay in Kanchanaburi is a visit to the Tiger Temple of Kanchanaburi. In the Tiger Temple, or more appropriately tiger reserve, it is possible to have your photo taken sat next to a tiger or even feed one of the baby tiger cubs. This is a once in a life time experience but be warned the Tiger Temple is focused on exploiting as much money from its visitors as possible.

There are two sessions to visit the tigers either in the morning or in the afternoon. During the morning session there is the chance to spend time with the baby cubs, feed the juniors and have photos with the adults. In the cooler morning the tigers are more active but this session has very limited numbers and is significantly more expensive than the afternoon session.

 

The afternoon session is based in the tiger canyon where the more docile adult tigers are chained to posts and tourists are permitted to have their photo taken sat next to the animals. Visitor numbers to the Tiger Temple are always very high with between 300-600 tourists visiting per day. Expect to be rushed around the tigers by the Tiger Temple staff who take the photos for you posing next to the adult tigers. Generally you sit with 5 to 6 tigers and you spend about 10 minutes in the actual enclosure. The remainder of the time in the tiger canyon is spent sat watching and guessing which tiger will eat a tourist.

 

Due to the heat of the afternoon sun many of the tigers will be very inactive and spend the majority of the time sleeping. Cat owners will be very familiar with the sleepy nature of the tigers who just want to sleep off their lunch. This inactivity of the tigers gave rise to rumours and reports that the tigers were drugged. I have been numerous occasions and have never seen any acts of cruelty against the animals. I personally feel sorrier for the hordes of tourists who are penned into the visitor areas, harshly shunted around the tigers by non interested staff and moaned at by the drivers for being late back to the taxis. While all of this is happening being blatantly exploited for as much money as possible by the Tiger Temple - you don’t see this tourist cruelty on the tiger temple cruelty websites!

 

The temple could be so much better managed, both designed for the animals and the hordes of tourists alike. But after a trip to Thailand what is the first photo to be shown to your friends and family - you sat next to a tiger.

 

The whole experience is similar to waiting for the autograph of an idol, the build-up isn’t always good and you’ll be forced to buy some expensive merchandise but the memory and signature will stay with you forever. This sums up the Tiger Temple, you won’t feel as if you’ve had long enough with the tigers and every additional activity with the tigers is outrageous priced but where else can you sit and stoke a tiger?

The entrance fee is 600THB and this includes photos taken on your camera with a number of the tigers. Remember to fully charge camera batteries, there is nothing worse than running out of battery just as you’re sat next to an adult tiger.

 

There is an additional charge of 1000THB to have your photo taken in a selection of special possess; the tigers head in your lap or the tigers paw on your shoulder or you head in the tigers mouth…..

 

The extended morning activities which include feeding and playing the baby tiger cubs costs a whopping 5000THB.

 

Most visitors reach the tiger temple via one of the organised tours from Kanchanaburi which includes the entrance fee in the tour price. There are even tours from Bangkok with a 2-3hour drive each way this is certainly a lot of traveling for just 10 minutes with the tigers!