Elephant Jungle Sanctuary (Office) — Attraction in Chiang Mai Province

Full day walk with elephants

Wow! Just wow! Definately an experience to be done! Just book it! You will not be disappointed! If you want to know more - read on!

The Elephant jungle sanctuary is an ethical enterprise that has rescued the elephants from logging camps and other such places. The elephants are free to roam in the camp, and are not taught any tricks or such like. They also employ locals in the villages and help them sustain a better life.

They have 9 camps, so you can end up at any of them. But they are all brilliant.

We were at camp 8 with Pop and Vah as our guides. They started with an informative explanation of the day, how the elephants came to be there and what to expect of them.

First activity was feeding. It is a great way to get used to these majestic creatures. We were feeding them watermelon by hand which allows you to get up close and personal, get a feel for them and bond with them.

Each elephant has a mahout (elephant trainer/keeper) who are always nearby - especially with the more cheeky young males! But they have such an amazing bond with their elephant it is great to watch.

Once you have bonded with them and feed them about 250kgs of watermelon it is off for a walk/trek through the jungle.

This is a fantastic way of watching how they interact with eachother and seeing them more in their natural habitat. It is a bit uneven and hilly, but it is a jungle! We had a walking group from the UK with us, some of which were in their 80s and one was nearly completely blind - go out is not too strenuous. You literally walk in amongst the elephants who are so majestic and gentle. It is amazing! After walking for around 45 minutes to 1 hour, it is back to the camp for your lunch.

Lunch is a buffet style lunch of chicken & potato stew, fried vegetables, omelette, rice and fresh fruit. Water, tea & coffee are included. There was a small kiosk to buy soft drinks (coke etc 30baht-75p, beer 60baht-£1.50) You could also pick up some all carvings and souvenirs, made locally.

After lunch there was a 30 minute break where you could rest/lay down on a raised bed, or just take in the sights.

After this it was time to make some herbal vitamin balls for the elephants, learning what nutrients etc they need to help keep them healthy. Then it is hand feeding the elephants what you have made.

Now it was time for a mud bath. For everyone! You were given time to change into swim wear - wear something dark or something you do not mind getting ruined - free mud can stain some clothing. Once changed you head down to the mud bath and help the elephants clean themselves using the mud to exfoliate and manage their body temperature. This is an amazing experience. You are in the water with them helping scrub their skin/hide whilst a photographer takes pictures. Again watching the bond between mahout and elephant is truly wonderful!

This activity is done until the elephants have had enough, and start walking off to the river. When that happens you again head down with them to the river, and help rinse off the mud. It was an amazing experience, the guides and mahout making it even better!

Again the river party parts as long as the elephants want it to. When they have had enough. That's it. Time to get out.

Then you head up to the camp, wash & and back into your clothes. We were lucky and they took us home via camp 6, as they had a 3 month old baby elephant (lufas) and we got to meet him.

From there you get your free shirt, and head home!

It was a memorable day, absolutely amazing. Memories were made to...

Long but very honest review for the Elephant Jungle Sanctiary in Chiang Mai (half day, morning visit).

We were picked up punctually at our hotel at 06:30 by a pickup truck. The drive to the park was absolutely fine - not as some people make it sound in the reviews here - yes, it was a bit bumpy towards the end for a couple of mins but it’s obviously hidden in the jungle and frankly we were too distracted by the beautiful scenery to even care (we even saw a water buffalo nearby!). Most of the ride is just via well maintained highway roads. There’s a break midway at a gas station but there’s also tea/coffee and fruit for breakfast at the sanctuary.

The guides/mahouts (Donut and Faa) were incredibly kind and truly helpful and of course the elephants were just beyond stunning. There are 4 big ones, all female, and one baby elephant, a bull. You can go as close as you want and play with them as much as you want. By the end of our visit, we had learnt so much about elephants! We got to feed them bananas at the start, then watched them eat twigs as we stroked their thick skin and took even more pictures. We then made our own ball of food and fed it to them. It was then time to splash them in the little river nearby after which the elephants indulged in a mud bath as we rubbed even more mud onto them. All optional: you can also just observe everything and take pictures from afar. Also, at this sanctuary, they offer a photography service (for free!) and you can download your pictures afterwards off the Dropbox link on their Facebook page. So there’s always one mahout taking pictures for you so you don’t have to, but if you’d like to, you can do so yourself as well. I’d recommend leaving your slippers/sandals behind when going for the (mud) bath and to be mindful of the stones. You can also just safely leave your phone close to the lake on a bench, get out, take some pictures and continue to splash the elephants. Don’t forget to bring towels, a lot of sunscreen, a cap/hat, clothes to change into and a bag to put your wet clothes in. We brought our swimming clothes. You can take a shower there after the mud bath. This is then followed by lunch if you went for the morning visit like us. The food was very delicious and I even went for seconds.

Lastly: how ethical is the sanctuary? All of the elephants in all their sanctuaries across Thailand are rescued elephants (either from gross elephant riding parks, circuses or from other abusive practices liked forced labor camps). I did not witness any abuse at any time and elephants would roam free at all times. The animals were never forced to do anything and we were told that the baths were going to take as long as the elephants wanted. As soon as one left the river to take a mud bath, the others would follow and bath time was over. The elephants certainly decided, very elephant-led. The only tourist-elephant interaction was at feeding time.

I would recommend choosing EJS in Chiang Mai as they really care about the animals and your money will definitely go to a good cause.

If you want to follow the ride along on google maps: the chiang mai park is somewhere around these coordinates:...

I would like to start off with saying that I had A LOT of skepticism prior to attending EJS 2D/1N trip due to the wide range of reviews. After an amazing experience, I am sharing insight for those that are still skeptical or unsure.

First off, these are NOT wild elephants, as such, yes they are trained. This is the ONLY way you are able to have such a close and intimate encounter with the elephants - safely. The hope is that they are trained in a human and ethical way, but that’s one thing we will never truly know.

Next, yes the method of transportation to the camp is by pick up truck but this is the norm for ALL camps. Plus, once you make your way down to the camp you will understand why 4 wheel drive is absolutely essential and why vans won’t work. The drive takes approximately 1h 30m to 2h depending on when you are picked up and there’s lots of beautiful scenery along the way.

If you are easily car sick or feel unsafe, just ask to sit in the passenger seat. They are happy to accommodate as much as they can.

For those saying that the elephants are shackled at night and left without food or water, I am not sure on what camp you witnessed this. After visiting 4 different camps, noting led me to believe this, nor are their any signs on the animals of such treatment but again, we will never know for sure.

What is true, is that the elephants are kept in a fenced off area during the night to sleep, which I was told has ample food and water. This is again for safely reasons as they are rather large animals and there are countless small villages surrounding the camps which can easily be destroyed by the elephants. There has to be a balance.

What we can do as tourist who directly fund the industry is DEMAND better care for these astonishing animals. Elephant sanctuary’s are very new having only been introduced to the industry in the last couple of years because of tourist complaints.

This provides a great option for elephant owners as the only alternatives are logging and elephant riding, which we know are awful for the animals but at the end of the day, everyone’s got to make money some how to feed their family. The choice is not always right, but you do what you need to do to support your family. That’s something we can all agree on.

All in all, where you choose to spend your money, is what grows that particular industry. I am happy to support a place like Elephant Jungle Sanctuary and hope to see them grow in the coming years, taking countless more elephants out of the logging and ridding industry. This intimate and surreal experience is one that I will remember for a lifetime.

So do your part to save this animals and spend your money where is counts. Ask questions, learn, share the knowledge and together we can END ELEPHANT RIDING.

DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY ON ELEPHANT...