Manifa Elephant Camp Luang Prabang Office — Attraction in Luang Prabang

We invested quite some time to find an elephant experience that is not only joyful for us but for the gentle giants as well. After checking Mandalao and Manifa we decided to go to the Manifa camp for a half day tour. Elephant weigh between 3 and 5 tons and are able to carry up to 10 percent of their body weight without problems. At Manifa there is no wooden saddle or anything mounted that would be a burden on their spine. First you change into special clothes. Your clothes don't get wet or dirty and the elephant does not get hurt by any zippers or buttons. Then you get acquainted with the elephants, feed them and learn some mahout language. Afterwards you climb together with the Mahouth on the back of these wonderful animals and ride through the forest. Simply a fantastic experience we will never forget! We did not go into the Mekong river with the Elephants, though. During rainy season the Mekong is not the cleanest of all streams... We just rode through the jungle for half an hour or so and enjoyed it a lot! Afterwards a lunch buffet was included. The food was exceptionally good and freshly prepared. Following the lunch the head of the camp gave us some background on the elephant, their behavior and the project. They have some nice articles you can buy to support the project. Manifa was supported by the German development agency GIZ, so you can be assured the work they do is ethical and good for the animals. There was only one downside with the trip. After we got picked up at the hotel we drove to the Mekong where we got loaded on a boat to drive 1 hr 15 min to a Whisky village that was not on the schedule. The board ride was nice and relaxing. In the village we learned about the Lao Whisky production and no sales pressure was applied. All interesting but we only learned about it that morning. I understand the need of cross financing those activities but just make it transparent to the travelers. That's more sustainable for everyone! After the elephant experience we got picked up by a mini van and were shipped back to our hotel. All in all we would definitely...

Absolutely incredible day today, one of the best days of my life.

Enter the park and the elephants are grazing free beneath big trees, these elephants are relaxed and happy walking around with ears flapping contentedly (I looked it up and it's happy behaviour). The elephants are born and raised in the village through generations (domesticated like horses) which shows in the way that they come up for pats on their own accord, bright eyes slowly closing as you rub their leathery forehead.

First we bonded with our elephants, patting them and feeding them sugar cane crunch crunch munch, then we are gently helped up onto their necks and slowly wander off into the forest (mine, the matriarch, took the lead), a bit different to my norm - riding horses, but looking down at it's big lovely head, and flapping ears I was in awe. The trainer showed me which bugs were biting my elephant and taught me how to get rid of them (he constantly cared for her, squishing these flies and making sure they didn't bother her), they really do care for the elephants which was so good to see. Then we cooled off with a wash in the river and headed back to camp, feeding them more sugar cane then leaving them to wander the grounds, protected from the poachers which prey on the unprotected wild elephants of the jungle.

If you want to really understand this beautiful animal, go and support this...

We waited for transportation around 30mins(bus was actually nice). Then we got to the sanctuary where badly behaved people were taking care of elephants. The ride was not nice, I think both for me and the elphant, I wouldn't do that again and I highly do not recommend to try it for other people. I think that the appropriate way to have contact with the elphant is either in the jungle from the distance or in sanctuary by feeding and taking bath with them when possible. Riding doesn't seem good for them. My "guide" was seating behind me on the elphant and he was watching reels on his phone till the moment I told him to stop. After we finished with the "ride" there was the buffet which I would say was what kept this place together. Instead of going for the tours people just ate as much as they could. After lunch prelection about how good they are to the animals. After that we supposed to go for whiskey production village which occured 3min in the stand with alcoholic products. I do not recommend...