Thom's Pai Elephant Camp (Course : take care and bathing with them) — Attraction in Mae Hong Son Province

We stayed here for the one week homestay programme as a family in August 2023, so I want to tell you exactly what I saw, felt and experienced.

Thom's Elephant Camp has some of the best cared-for elephants in Thailand. Before going, we read many bad reviews about this place, but I urge you not to focus on them because the majority are regarding elephants that don't even belong here.

Most western people, including myself, are skeptical about elephant camps and animal welfare in general, so there are many visitors who question the camp's ethics and practices. However, I will illustrate through words and photos exactly what I saw....

Most notably, the elephants sleep in the mountain behind the camp every night. At around 5pm, they roam into the farm and beyond to settle down in natural surroundings each night. Here, they sleep until around 7am, when they are collected and returned to the camp in the morning.

From 7am, the elephants eat a breakfast consisting of sugar cane, sweetcorn, banana and mixed fruits. They are fed similar foods all day, consistently by staff and customers who either stop by or experience tours.

From 9am, the elephants take customers on tours which include mountain walks or a trip down to the river, where visitors can bathe and play with the elephants. It is totally natural for elephants to wash in the rivers as they need to remove the dirt from their skin every day, so the tourists give them a helping hand.

When the elephants are not on tours, they chill out at the front of the camp, in permanent shade, for passersby to stop and feed them bananas for a small donation. Here the elephants are in a stable-like containment (imagine a horse stable, only bigger). It is here where most of the confusion and questions arise as these passersby do not see the mountains, rivers and abundance of fresh healthy food for the elephants. They only see what they have preconceived before arriving in Thailand.

An important point about this camp is that these elephants are never ridden, neither by customers or the mahouts (elephant trainer/carer). The mahouts in fact treat the elephants with a great deal of care and attention, spending literally the entire day looking after them side by side.

This year, an elephant enthusiast and professional photographer from America has also joined the camp to give free tours in English. Whilst there are English-speaking staff onsite, it's great to have the native English guide as an addition too, particularly given his knowledge and passion for elephants.

As for my family experience, we stayed with our two daughters, aged 5 and 8 years old and they loved it. We had three meals per day, stayed in a bungalow next to the farm and did tours at least twice a day. My five year old stayed with the elephants all day, every day under the guidance of the mahouts who were teaching her how to care for the animals. She has now become obsessed by elephants which is truly inspirational.

I have written such a long review because I feel there is a lot of confusion about this camp that needs correcting. It is right to question ethics around animal welfare in order to bring about positive change, but I can assure visitors to this camp that they will enjoy seeing the elephants in a happy and natural setting.

As a westerner myself, I think we should be more open-minded about such places instead of arriving with a default mindset. When we think about our own practices, such as horse riding, where we keep large horses in small stables, only to ride them at our leisure, this is far worse than what's going on here.

Please check out some of the photos and enjoy this place for yourself as it is probably the best elephant experience...

I want to give this place a 4 star since the elephants and staff are really nice and friendly, but the tours are not really that good.

We stayed in Thom’s elephant camp in the bungalow, and we took 1 hour river tour with a tour guide and two other staff.

When we got ready to go to the river the tour guide was not very informative and didn’t tell us any background information about the elephants. He brought with him two other people that had been before to the river tour, so he would mostly just talk to them during the walk to the river and after the river and didn’t talk to us.

When we got the river it seemed like he was in a rush, he instructed where we should stand and feed them the bananas, and then he just disappeared in his own world and wasn’t there with us. I understand if there is other people in the tour and that you can’t talk to them all but it was only me and my partner going to the river tour. After we had given them bananas we didn’t know what would happen next. Since the tour guide didn’t say anything to us, and was just interested in taking photos with the elephants. It wasn’t that nice since we came to the river tour to get a glimpse of the elephants life. The other two guys that were there was way more informative and showed us that it was time for them to wash and where to brush them, but we didn’t get any information about the elephants still.

The tour guide was busy taking pictures of the elephants and ignored talking to us, is nice that he seem to have a good relationship with the elephants but he didn’t tell us anything about the elephants and their story. When we were done with the river tour he just said “okay let’s get back” and that was it. We also asked him if he took any pictures but he said “aah no sorry, I don’t take any pictures I just do the tours” although he took photos of the elephants, because that was the only thing he did, I were thinking are you a photographer or a tour guide? There should be improvements of the tour, more background information about the elephants. It cost 1400 baht/person to take the river tour and I personally don’t think it’s worth it because the tour guide is lacking to give information and doesn’t seem interested in doing the tours. I give it three stars just because the elephants seems happy and it was nice going to the river with them. Although I would recommend you going to another elephant sanctuary, since the tour guide need...

A lengthy positive review incoming so take a few minutes to read thoroughly.

Firstly, there is another elephant business directly opposite Thoms where an elephant is chained up… sadly, this elephant is NOT part of Thoms sanctuary, so please ignore any review that say her elephants are chained up because they aren’t.

Secondly, wow!!! What an incredible and beautiful 2hr experience we had with Tatdao & Ot (the elephants), Ike (English speaking tour guide) and the mahouts.

We had arranged with Thom via email to be picked up for a fee as we hadn’t yet hired a motorbike in Pai (super easy drive via motorbike if you do want to go there yourself), Thom kindly picked us up, we arrived at the sanctuary and was introduced to the mahouts and tour guide for some basic safety info and to feed the elephants bananas. We began our walk to the mountains with just 2 people in our group. Ike and Thom advised they keep their groups very small to not overwhelm the elephants, whereas most other sanctuaries in Thailand do not keep groups small as they can have 30-50 people at any one session! We watched the elephants roam freely and feed on vegetation for an hour with lots of information provided about the elephants by Ike the tour guide, before coming back to quickly get changed and collect a few more people for the second part of the tour which was to head down to the river. Once we were at the river, we fed the elephants more bananas and got in the water with them. They were able to roam freely in the water and to feed on more vegetation. We returned to the sanctuary where the elephants then took shade and some of the group took a dip in the hot springs on site.

I want to make clear that these elephants are truly looked after and loved by all the staff. No chains are used and it is not allowed to ride the elephants. Ike the tour guide has been at the business for around a year and is serious about their welfare and wellbeing to ensure these elephants have the best care while visitors come to see these gracious beings. The price to visit is on the higher price point but I would 100% pay double if I came back here because you can truly see how much love the elephants receive. There is also a tip box for the mahouts so make sure to consider a tip for them too.

Thank you Thom, Ike and the Mahouts for a fantastic experience and I would recommend to anyone...