This castle-like observing house by the water pool is specialty built for tourists. On the trees by the pod are some small and exquisite "Observing Elephant Platforms" on which people can observe elephants or other animals drinking water.

If you stay here for two or three days, you are sure to see wild elephants right before your own eyes. Thel elephants usually drinkwater in the morning and in the evening, When you observe them, you must,keep quiet and do nothing to irritate them. Other wise you will regret it later.

The elephants in Xishuangbanna are Asian elephants,They live on wild banna, thom bamboo top, tender branch and leaf, bamboo leaf and corn. After eating the food, they usually go to pool surronded with trees to drink water which is contained with nitre and take a mud-bath. The wild elephants can swim and like to live in groups. They go through a jungle in small groups, .twenty or thirty in one group. Usually the stronger male elephants walk at the head or at the rear of the procession, and the,small elephansts mother-elephants are in the middle, The male elephant walking at hte bead makes noises.it seems that he is sending messagesto the other lephahts. Besides, they will send an elephant to place to scout before they set off, and after receiving the safe signal, they will walk out of the jungles slowly and calmly. It is so interesting that they walk in two or three, one group after the other and each group keeps a distance. There are about 300 elephants living in the dense forest in Xishuangbanna, so it is called "the Kingdom of Elephants". To the Dai people, the elephant is a symbol of good fortune, might, strength and force.