Sai Yok Elephant Park — Attraction in Kanchanaburi Province

Please dont go there!!!!! I visited this elephant park on my university trip and I must really admit I felt so bad only being there and supporting this. There is nothing ethical about this, and especially since our shirts said raising „ethically responsible students“ i think this was totally unfitting. I understand that people have fun feeding them but I cannot understand how you can be happy about feeding those in the first row while seeing the elephants in the back being caged up. They rotated them during feeding time, and those that weren’t at turn had to stay in hose little cages. They start swaying and moving around unnaturally and ‚slightly kicking‘ the metal bars which was horrible to watch. Also the guide said they are IN THE CAGES ALL NIGHT. so the only little bit they walk is the 2 meters to the river when tourists want to see them bathe and thats it!! They are not even allowed to roam free. They say the elephants are at peace now and that we work for them but thats not true. They are forced to bathe when they dont want to (the elephant we saw didnt want to go in but the guide continuously ‚pushed‘ him towards the water), they splash water at tourist, and they also pose for photos (which is not a natural behavior but trained). So even though they might not be on a leash anymore they still have to do these unnatural behaviors. I also was not really sure about planting the banana trees since it felt like a set up, since there was not a single other banana tree field around. We made jokes about it that they just take the trees out after you leave and the next group of tourists can plant them again (I really hope we are wrong about this!!)

If I could, I would give zero stars — please do not support...

This experience was indescribable. We booked a tour via Viator using the IdayTrip company and Kenny was our guide. This was the last stop on the tour and it was magical. We were given clothing to change into (bring a swimsuit to wear underneath) and the restrooms have showers equipped with shampoo and body wash for afterwards. We were also given towels and fresh, refreshing plum juice.

We got to prepare meals for and bathe the elephants in the river. Hand-feeding a 3 tonne elephant was surreal. The caretakers know their elephants like they share a soul and were very informative about their lifestyle. This is an ETHICAL sanctuary so there is no riding these majestic creatures. You feed them, scrub them in the river, and they take lots of pictures for you too so you’ll have wonderful memories to look back on.

I’d recommend: sandals that are good for walking in mud/rivers (though they do provide flip flops but I don’t think they provide much traction). I have Tevas myself and they were perfect for walking into the river.

Obviously bring a change of clothes but you don’t need a towel or anything else because they provide it. I also had a waterproof phone case around my neck to take pictures up close, but you can also just hand your phone off to the staff, they know how to take the best pictures since the elephants listen to their caretakers and will spray water on you for the picture! It was so much fun, I definitely...

3 stars for elephant care 5 stars for tourist attraction

The experience was fantastic, being so close and hands on with an elephant was amazing. We fed 2 elephants and then walked 300m to the river with a 3rd. We washed the elephant in the river for about 10mins while it was being fed bananas. We were the only 2 tourists there for the 2hr visit. The staff were nice and did not charge us for photos they took of us.

While the experience was excellent, the 8 elephants they had were kept in medium sized pens, similar to open horse stables. The trainers only used verbal commands to control the elephants. There were no spikes, sticks or elephant riding. The trainers did make the elephants do tricks such as posing for photos, diving under water and spraying water with their trunks.

I would definitely describe this place as an elephant park and not an elephant sanctuary because the feeding, bathing and posing of the elephants for photos was all done for our entertainment and not for the elephants benefit. The elephants seemed happy, looked after and well treated. Lastly, I would have liked to see the other elephants allowed to walk around more, rather than being kept in the medium sized pens however this did not happen in the 2hrs we were there.

I would recommend this for anyone who wants an absolutely amazing, albeit slightly exploitative experience with reasonably well cared...