A walk on the wild side

In 1994, a temple was built 34 kilometres outside Kanchanaburi in Thailand to be a place of worship in the forest for the region's Buddhist monks.

Click here to see the tigers on video

The Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery wasn't designed to be a wildlife sanctuary, but in life things never turn out as planned. Wildlife started to approach the temple — the first guests being fawn, deer and boar.

Then villagers started to bring injured and orphaned animals. Later came the tigers. As an environmentalist artist myself who has painted many tigers, I was now about to spend four hours of up-close-and-personal time with this magnificent species.

First introductions

When we arrived there we encountered groups of villagers who were either volunteers or paid by the temple to help out. They were all wearing bright green fluorescent shirts (I wondered if the tigers would think — “OK the green people are my friends, the others, food'').

We took off our shoes and walked up the steps of the temple. And then the tigers started to come in and everybody said “aaahhh'' and “ooohhh'' — especially when a 6-month-old tigress appeared.

She was taken to the closest monk and other smaller tigers followed aged about 3 to 4 months, all different sizes and all playful and happy — wanting to jump on everything.

As soon as the tigers where safely secured to the walls of the temple, the monks went through their prayers and, when finished, we all sat down for breakfast. “Breakfast' can best be described as exotic — I'm still not sure what I consumed that morning.

After eating we were allowed to bottle-feed the youngest tiger cubs and play with them. They were simply the cutest things in the world, all noise and constantly moving.

As I went to pet some other tigers my guide told me “remember to be on your toes'' which I decided meant: “remember they might jump and attack you any minute if they get a chance.'' The truth is I never felt any discomfort and the tigers never seemed to mind. But maybe I was lucky…

Fun in the water

After playing for about 30 minutes it was shower time! We went outside and waited for the female workers to take the tigers into the back of a special bathing area. We followed them in and had a great time showering with tigers – they are one of the few cat species that really enjoy water.

Next it was lunchtime and I was pleased as I was starting to worry what would happen if they got hungry, after all we ate in front of them and never gave them any food! The menu of the day was cooked chicken, which was actually very warm. We started to feed them and they really liked it.

I noticed that the volunteers fed them chicken that is cooked in water, no blood or anything just white strips of meat.

I soon understood when one woman put a piece of chicken in her mouth and gave to one of the cubs! When she asked if any of us wanted to feed mouth-to-mouth all of our smiles disappeared.

But hey! I had dreamed of all this for so long I raised my hand. She gave me a piece of meat and I put it in my mouth and bent down on my knees to be at the same height of the tiger and yes, I was nervous but I did it and it was amazing.

After our time with the ‘young ones' we were taken to Tiger Canyon where we saw a cute one-year-old tigress and then a tiger that would have made Hercules run for his life (I almost ran for mine).

Time for a walk

However, my companion and I were persuaded to walk over to this huge beast and stroke his back. He had incredible muscles and a beautiful coat. At one point he seemed to freeze and so did we.

The tiger sniffed at something and then walked off and we walked with him. Suddenly he rose up on his hind legs and started to scratch a tree, towering over us. Walking a tiger doesn't allow you to take pictures and so one of the young workers took a few snaps for us.

In the canyon below us there where about six more tigers waiting and more of helpers. We stood behind a square fence, which was more like a psychological barrier for us to feel safe - and watched the tigers playing happily in a nearby lagoon.

At that point we could talk more with our guide about the work the sanctuary was doing. He informed us that last year they had 20 new cubs and this year nine, good numbers for tigers bred in captivity and a sign that they were happy and well fed.

Needing protection

Indo-Chinese tigers are scattered throughout six countries according to the World Wildlife Foundation, namely: Thailand, Cambodia, China, Lao, Myanmar and Vietnam - the total wild population is believed to be from 736 to 1,225 tigers — with the biggest threat to their survival being poaching.

Our last hour and a half or two with the tigers in the canyon were almost unbelievable. They were sprinting after each other and even got into a few serious fights. The roar when a tiger gets angry is pretty impressive!

We took some last pictures with one of the big tigers before leaving and said goodbye to our ultra cool guide in his green flourescent shirt.

As we left, a group of us talked in amazement about the experience we had been lucky enough to have with these beautiful creatures and we all knew the tigers would stay with us long after we returned home.

Go there... Kanchanaburi ... From the UAE

Bangkok is the closest airport.

From Dubai

Emirates flies daily. Fare from Dh1,765

Thai Airways flies daily. Fare from Dh2,965

From Abu Dhabi

Etihad flies daily.
Fare from Dh 3,455

— Information courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata.
Ph: 04 4380454