Elephant Conservation Center, Laos — Attraction in Sainyabuli Province

We had the incredible opportunity to spend two nights at the Elephant Conservation Center, one of the few centers making a genuine attempt at conservation and rewilding in the country.

The elephant conservation center began as a health clinic for elephants, but slowly expanded into a full conservation center that aims to rescue, rehabilitate, reherd, research, reproduce, and ultimately rewild elephants. This is an immensely challenging project. Elephants that arrive at the sanctuary are often physically and emotionally traumatised - years spent working for humans leaves them psychologically scarred, while the lack of socialisation and independence means that they don't know how to interact with other elephants, and how to 'just be' in the wild. At the center, each elephant has a dedicated Mahout who is responsible for interacting with the elephant - this process alone can take time to get the elephant to trust its new Mahout, while the Mahouts are trained to avoid traditional punishment practices, striving for positive reinforcement instead. The elephants get regular health checks by dedicated vets and endocrine tests to determine fertility, and are observed by behavioral biologists with the aim of figuring out which other elephants they may get along with, and when good breeding opportunities may arise.

Set between many hectares of hilly forest, the elephants at the center have ample room to roam around, eating natural food, that is also supplemented with banana and sugarcane plantations in the center. Over our two days, we watched the elephants bathe, eat, socialise, and roam around, and we fell in love with these majestic, gentle giants.

Our guide Mr. Sou was amazing - a friendly and welcoming man who exuded kindness, knowledge, and wisdom, and very clearly has a passion for his work. We feel honoured and lucky to have had the opportunity to spend time and learn from him, and we'll never forget him.

The accommodation at the center was rustic, charming, simple, and beautiful. We loved our bungalow and the sounds of the forest at night. Beautiful sunsets and stars too, and opportunities to relax in the cozy common spaces. Given high temperatures during the day, we were initially worried about lack of aircon but it was no problem - it was very cool at night in our bungalow.

The food was plentiful and good, and there was coffee available at all times.

This is a magical place and the work done here is impressive and important. Don't think about it - visit here instead of touristy elephant places that allow harmful practices and consider your stay as a donation to elephant care. It's totally worth the money and time commuting on a bumby road from Luang Prabang (the drive is arranged by the centre).

Thank you to everyone in the centre and...

My rating is a combination of 5/5 stars for their elephant care and 2/5 for the accomodation etc. I rounded the 3.5 stars up.

To see the once captive animals back in nature, trying to adapt again, is marvelous. I think the work done here for elephants and the environment they need is a very good thing. The center has some projects they will explain to you in detail, as well as everything you need to know about their giants. You can walk with them, see them interact, maybe even touch!

Did you know elephants eat as much as 10% of their body weight? Funny thing is, it's a little bit the same with the ECC itself. From the 200$ (1 night stay) about 20$ are maybe what they need to spend per person for the whole food and accommodation. The rest should be seen as a donation. So coming here doesn't mean it's "worth your money", but rather a good deed.

My guide was Mr. Phong. He was amazing and funny, I enjoyed his explanations completely. All of the staff is amazingly friendly, I felt only good vibes.

The bungalows are extremely simple, no fan and almost no electricity (they mostly power up by solar energy and use a generator only 3 hours per day). Not all buildings are same, number 1a-5 have a nice view, my number 12 was in the bushes, view to the toilets. The mattresses were one of the hardest I encountered in 2.5 months Southeast Asia. The food you'll get you can't choose, the taste is so-so, keeping me hungry sometimes (even though the shared plates serve enough for everyone). Having no light in the night on the toilet gave me a camping feeling. All of this, considering the amount I've spent, was kind of a bummer. I know they preach "live with less" to protect the planet - but doesn't mean lowering the quantity also rising the quality?

Even though I recommend going there for a once in a lifetime experience, it is something I'll probably won't do another time. As a rather cheap traveler it was a huge investment for me and I came back with mixed feelings.

One last thing, now that I mentioned coming back: the Vans that'll get you there and back do a 3 hours drive on maps in 2 hours. Imagine how much faster you'll have to drive to be 30% faster than a navigation system tells you! Considering the roads and the speed we were traveling I often had safety and comfort concerns.

I wish the ECC all the best and hope they can improve some of the things to get...

We travelled to the Elephant Centre from Luang Prabang in one of the Centre's minibuses. This was the only downside of the entire experience, courtesy of the terrible state of the 13 highway. This was in a very, very poor state of repair and we bounced and rocked our way for quite a few kilometres, until we turned off on to a different highway that was in a much better state of repair.

Accessing the centre requires a short boat ride before being met by one of the guides. After being shown to your room there is an induction meeting to explain the purpose of the Centre, as well as the general rules and itinerary.

The enthusiasm of the team is clear to see. They are all totally committed to the preservation of the elephants, as well as their breeding programme. Visitors are not allowed to touch the elephants, but can observe them in their natural habitat at reasonably close quarters. Photo opportunities are frequent and in totally natural surroundings. There are lectures given by the guides and by the medical team, and they are very informative. There is a fair amount of trekking involved and so visitors need to be fairly fit.

All meals are provided during your stay. These are really tasty and offer both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. We stayed in one of the luxury lodges that had both air conditioning and WiFi. I thought at first that the bed was a little hard, but ended up having one of the best sleeps for a long time.

On the second day, there was a trek to find one of the elephants, and to see the socialising area. After lunch, we said our goodbyes to the team and headed back by boat to the awaiting minibuses.

All in all this was a fabulous experience and well worth the money. Even better, all of the money collected from the visits is ploughed back into the Centre. I can highly recommend this experience for anyone who loves seeing elephants in their...