12 May 2022
Our guide picked us up at 6 am and it took about 2 hours to drive to the park. This was fine with us, as we thought we had a full day of activities ahead of us. The tour description says a safari, lunch and then a visit to an elephant orphanage to see the elephants feeding etc. We arrived at the park at around 830 am and started our safari. After 3 hours we were extremely hot and exhausted. We were on our way back to the main gate to finish the safari when our guide "realized" the elephant orphanage does not open until 2:30. We had three hours. He then decided we would do more safari, even though we had been outside already in 35 + degrees for 3 hours. We said no we need to use the bathroom. We had to say it 2 or 3 times before he took us back. Then he says we can go for lunch but that then we have to wait 2 hours for the elephant orphanage.
When we got to the lunch spot, my partner and I decided to cancel the rest of the day and ask the driver to take us home. It was not worth sitting around for 2 hours in the heat.
The part that confuses me is the guide acted surprised that the elephant orphanage didn't open until 2:30. If you are doing this regularly is that not something you would know? Could you not plan the day so there are no three hour gaps between activities?
In the end, he was abke to get the full price of the tour when we only did half the activity. The park is interesting but the day was too disorganized for us.