PON ELEPHANT THAILAND — Attraction in Chiang Mai Province

We had a big package with bamboo rafting and pickup from the hotel. We were picked up from the hotel a little earlier than the appointed time, the bus was comfortable, leather seats and a gold ceiling 😂 We were first taken to the office where all the other clients had gathered. There were 8 of us in the car, very comfortable.

When we got to the first point, we were given a short briefing on what we would see and where we would have lunch. There were 4 points with elephants in total, and we also visited a waterfall where you could swim.

Below there will be a detailed story and possible spoilers for the trip. In short: I highly recommend visiting this place, an incredible experience. The visiting system is created in such a way that you have several locations and several guides. This helps people not to crowd in one place and you essentially get an individual trip for your group.

So we went to the first point with elephants, there were 4 elephants of different ages, the youngest was 4 years old, the oldest was 40. The guide told us what kind of elephants there are and what their way of life is in the wild. He also introduced us to the owner of this place, she is now 73 years old, but she continues to run the business herself, she literally prepared reeds for the elephants herself in front of us. We had lunch at this place, quite tasty food, rice, fresh vegetable salad, chicken and chicken nuggets. Watermelon for dessert, water for drinks, but you could buy cola or beer. At the second point with elephants, we saw a family: a mother, a father and their one-year-old child. At the third point, we saw 5 elephants, a grandmother elephant, she is 73 years old and she really is a granny. She is very slow, she has vision problems (cataracts, she is almost blind), her teeth have fallen out and she eats only bananas. Unfortunately, in the wild she would not survive with all these data. She is separated from the other elephants, but sometimes the smallest elephant runs up and picks up her food, because she eats only bananas. There are 4 more elephants at this point, this is a mother with her daughters. They are all different ages, the daughters are from 16 years old to 4 months old. Yes, 4 months and she already weighs a hundred kilograms. It was an amazing experience communicating with such a baby, she is very active, she is very interested in people, the guide also told us nice things about her.

Our last point: swimming with elephants Ginny and Wendy. The guide tried very hard to create an atmosphere of fun swimming and he succeeded 100%. Ginny poured water on us from her trunk if we poured water on her from ladles.

Then we had bamboo rafting, there we also saw several elephants while rafting. The rafting is very leisurely, but you sit with a wet bottom almost the whole time, in some places the water splashes up to your waist, so it’s better not to take things and not to wear flip-flops, they can very...

Me and my girlfriend had been wanting to visit an ethical elephant sanctuary since we arrived in Thailand 6 weeks ago. We waited until we were in Chiang Mai as recommended by other travellers! What an experience… we are glad we waited. Lilly was our tour guide and she is the most energetic, enthusiastic, hard working and knowledgeable guide we could have hoped for! Nate was our driver and helping hand throughout and although there are some terrible drivers in Thailand, Nate was certainly not one! Thank you both very much!

Initially we started with the sticky waterfalls that were incredible, well worth the adventure and Lilly was taking some incredible pictures! You don’t have to do a thing!

We then went on our way to lunch (included in ticket price) which we were expecting to be something basic like we had experienced during boat trips and other day trips however it was far from it! They brought out an abundance of hot, tasty Thai dishes including pad Thai, Massaman curry, fried chicken and so much more. There were 4 people on our table and we couldn’t finish it.

From here we then went onto the NEH (New Elephant Home.) This is around a 5 minute drive from lunch. We were delighted upon arriving! Although it may look like they are fenced in from the front they are not as the fence stops around 20 metres from the entrance meaning the elephants are free to walk around anywhere they like! We cut sugar canes with a machete and broke off the bananas whilst wearing our new uniform! Feeding them is only the beginning. We then walked into the fields with them and treated them further! All the elephants had their own carer which helped as some of the cheekier ones wanted to get into our pouches full of food for them.

To get them to behave is really something to see. They don’t use methods like some of the horror stories you hear and see at temples. They simply speak to them as you would a naughty child! These elephants are completely cruelty free and you can tell by the way they act! Following from the fields we then crossed the river which does have a somewhat strong current but nothing to be worried about. On the other side we gave them a mud bath and played with them!

I should also mention that there is a presentation before beginning on do’s and do not’s and how to tell if they are enjoying something or getting irritated which is also great info.

After the mud bath we then washed them in the river and headed back to the entrance where there are separate male and female showers which were much needed as we were hot, sweaty and muddy! From here the tour ends and they take you back to the doorstep of your hotel!

Please continue giving this great level of service to both the tourists and elephants! Thank you for a incredible adventure we will remember for the rest...

We did the elephant mahout experience and sticky waterfall tour. There were 6 of us and we were picked up from our hotel at 8am and back by 6pm. The trip was FANTASTIC!

Our guide was Jakkie and the driver was Pan. They were both amazing. Jakkie told us all about Thai culture and various facts on Chiang Mai. He even walked the sticky waterfalls with us snapping cool photos and helping us out. Pan always made sure the van was cool and provided us cold waters, snacks and cleaning towels. He even went out of his way to get us disinfectant and bandaids when a member of our group cut their finger.

We stopped by a local market on the way up and Jakkie walked with us explaining various foods sold there. We went to an exclusive elephant Mahout experience. They care for 3 elephants of various ages and each one has their own handler who has raised them from a very young age. The elephants are in great shape. No scars or deformities. They do not force the elephants to do anything. Initially the elephants were taken by surprise when we all went to the jungle to find them. They were upset and moody so we went to prepare food for them and some medicine balls infused with vitamins and minerals that they are fed daily. After a few hours the elephants were back closer to the home in the jungle and we went down to the river to feed them and wash them. It was an amazing experience. The elephants enjoyed us washing them and scrubbing them in the river.

We went for a prepared lunch at a local restaurant which turned out to be an enjoyable 4 course meal! Complete with meats, rice, veggies and fruit.

Next we went to the sticky waterfalls where Jakkie walked the grounds with us and gave us a history lesson on them. We walked down the falls worth Jakkie and back up. He snapped action shots of us and guided us through each passage. On our way back to our hotel we stopped on the side of the road to enjoy a fresh coconut and Pan gave us a plethora of photos he took throughout the trip and even a short video they created for us.

Book this tour you will not be disappointed! A+++ hopefully you get...