'Come on," Pansuphusana Phongsurang, customer relations of Tiger Park, says to me while walking me through a steel door. "It is a bit difficult to make up your mind. But everyone has the first time. I never forget my first time with tigers."
The Tiger Park in Pattaya is a favourite destinations in the eastern city among local and inbound tourists alike. The park claims that it is the only place in Thailand that allows guests to get up close with unleashed tigers, and even touch the creatures.
It is a tough decision whether to get through that door or not. Behind it, tigers are lying under trees' shade in the garden, which is surrounded by an electric fence. A tiger looks at me curiously while others are lying, swaying their long tails like cats waiting to play. I am in a garden with three tigers in front of me.
Children below the age of 15 are only allowed to visit the smallest tigers, for safety reasons. Peerawat Jariyasombat
It is my first time being close to tigers. Though they are very young, less than 30 months old, each is over 150 kg at least. These tigers are big and strong enough to hunt and kill, for sure, and the merit of getting to "play" with domesticated wild animals remains a debatable issue, despite the popularity of a facility such as this tiger park.
Finally, I step through the door and my heart skips a beat. A handful of visitors follow us. Unlike me, they are quite happy to get in. The visitors slowly walk and reach these tigers at their backs, then softly touch their backs and tails. With a sleepy face, a tiger looks back over its shoulder, to see a man is gently touching its skin. It may think a masseuse is nourishing its reddish-orange fur to keep it shiny.
A man lies down by a tiger, using its large body as a pillow, while others post in funny gestures for pictures.
According to Pansuphusana, Tiger Park is a subsidiary of Navaphol Big Tiger Co, which has long experience in tiger-themed parks such as Trakarn Zoo in Ubon Ratchathani, and Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai and Phuket. Tiger Park Pattaya today has 13 tigers. All of them are half-blood between Indochinese and Bengal.
Tiger Park Pattaya lets its tigers live and relax in the garden with two clean shallow pools to keep them comfortable during hot days. At some moment, tigers play around with their trainers. A tiger jumps out of a shallow pool, and in seconds it shows up in front of its trainer like a dog playing hide-and-seek with its owner. Another trainer comes up with a ball attached to the end of a long stick and attracts his tiger to play with it like a cat playing with a ball of yarn. It is a lovely time to see tiger at play.
After spending 10-15 minutes in the garden, the time to be with tigers is over. Visitors gradually move out.
The fur is not soft, but quite clean. Peerawat Jariyasombat
A tiger stares into the camera, as if examining whether it can play this new toy or not. Peerawat Jariyasombat
