Rather than perpetuate the idea that you’re getting some intimate, quiet experience with tigers, here’s a picture of what it’s really like.
You pull into an over-crowded parking lot, full of silver minivans. You wait in a long line with a bunch of other tourists. An Australian man in a yellow polo explains that you can pay 1000THB to get a “special” picture with the tiger’s head in your lap, and also you get to move to the front of the line. The woman in front of you starts complaining that her tour guide hadn’t told her anything about the extra price.
When you get to the front of the line, a Thai guide takes your camera and your hand. He leads you to the first tiger, helps you sit down next to it, tells you “you can touch” and then snaps a few photos. Several other “guides” are surrounding the tiger, who is leashed to a very short chain embedded on the ground.
Your personal Thai guide helps you up, and moves you to the next tiger, where the process is repeated. Maybe you have to wait a minute for the tourist in front of you to finish up. You do this four or five times, going to various tigers, artfully arranged in a variety of poses. For example, one is on his back, as though you you were giving him a very gratifying tummy rub. The tigers don’t move the entire time.
