Thai Elephant Home — Attraction in Chiang Mai Province

My wife and I chose to go with an excursion through Thai Elephant Home and couldn't be happier with our experience. We did the full day "Trail of the dinosaur with elephant riding" and it was a great way to get the full experience.

Our tour guide named "yo" spoke excellent english, and had a great sense of humor which is important since you have a 1.5 hour car ride each way to and from the elephant reserve. We first went to their nursery where you get to become acquainted with the mommas and their babies and play with them in the fields. Then we trekked through the jungle with Yo for about 5 hours (with plenty of stops) on a well-groomed yet off the beaten path trail that Yo and his boss Joe made themselves. The trek allows you to really experience the atmosphere, landscape, flora and fauna that Chiang Mai has on tap along with some great vistas along the way. After passing the "elephant spa" where the Thai Elephant Home has their own mud-bath for their elephants, you turn a corner and arrive in the part of town where all the elephant tours are located. To be completely honest, walking through the town and seeing how so many of the elephants were treated was gut-wrenching and more than a little sad. For a moment it made me reconsider if we had made the right choice contributing to this industry at all. After hiking through the town and up into the mountainside you find the Thai Elephant Home and we knew we had made the right choice. They had extensive staff, huge grounds, plenty of food, shelter, and space for the elephants to roam. You got the vibe right away that this operation was different in a good way.

They then gave us a change of clothes for the elephant ride and we spent about 20 minutes getting familiar with all the elephants we would ride that day. After teaching us the commands and pairing us up, we hopped on top of their neck bareback (the only way you are humanely supposed to ride an elephant) and rode them through town into the river area for a bath. Bath-time was a ton of fun and you could see how happy these gentle giants were are play. After the river time we hopped back on and rode them back to the home where we showered and had tea and fresh fruit with the staff while they burned us each a CD with all the photos they take of you (for free).

TLDR: If you want an authentic and humane experience that allows you to meet, understand, and ride these gentle giants the Thai Elephant Home is the best...

TEH did a wonderful job of making us feel welcome and providing us with everything we needed for our journey.

We were picked up near our Airbnb, and brought to the compound(About a 1hr drive from downtown CM). We were briefed about how to act around and command the elephants. We then had an opportunity to feed our elephants before heading out.

The journey itself consists of about an hour's ride followed by lunch which was provided for us and very good. We then played in the mud with the elephants (elephant spa) and splashed in the river with them as well. All the while TEH had a camera man taking photos and videos for us to take home on a DVD.

I'm giving TEH 5 stars because they did EVERYTHING they could to make the day as enjoyable as possible. My only negative comment would be about the duration of the ride. Be aware that you will be atop a large animal (riding was very physical and exhausting) for more than two hours in the heat and sun of the Thai jungle. I would have enjoyed a shorter ride and more time interacting with the animal.

Also, the mahouts at TEH do use hooks. However, we saw nothing that even began to border on unethical behavior nor signs of abuse. Rather the mahouts seemed to genuinely care for their animals and had a sense of revrence for...

This was one of our favorite stops in all of Thailand! The people here are so kind and really do love their elephants. After spending two and a half weeks in Thailand you quickly know when an elephant is treated correctly or not and the elephants here definitely have a good home.

there are a lot of people who think all elephant riding is unethical. They claim that it damages their spines. While I would agree that the elephants equipped with the big boxes on their backs are treated unethically, places such as the Thai Elephant home that only allow one writer per elephant does not hurt the animal. Humans have been riding elephants for centuries, they are massive animals unlikely cannot notice a tiny human riding on their neck, one of the strongest areas of their body.

The instruction from the employees was very clear and thorough and the trip down to the river was just amazing. The elephant's loved playing in the river and getting washed. When we got back they showed us pictures and fed us some amazing pineapple and other fruits. I could have spent a week at this place.

I researched a lot of places before deciding to go here, and I'm glad that we went to this elephant home because the elephants are treated well and the staff was...