Elephant Nature Park Office — Local services in Chiang Mai Province

Like many people coming to Thailand I wanted to interact with elephants but did not want to contribute to their mistreatment. I researched many different companies and decided to book with Elephant Nature Park. They are one of the truly ethical facilities. With that being said, any time elephants are in captivity there are going to be some downsides as they are not truly free. But, with elephants that have been raised in captivity releasing them is not an option either. All of the elephants at Elephant Nature Park have been rescued from situations that are incredibly cruel. Many have injuries from their past living situations and finally get to live in peace without being forced to work or perform. Yes, the elephants do have tourists walking up to them to take pictures, but touching the elephants, feeding the elephants and bathing with the elephants is no longer allowed as all of those activities can add stress to their lives. The staff know each elephant by name and they know the personalities of each elephant as well. They know which ones are okay with unknown people standing close and which ones are not and they never force the elephants out of their comfort zones. The park has 114 elephants and 300 acres for them to live peacefully. They are fed well and get a second lease on life living peacefully.

The elephants do have to sleep in their barns at night and the male elephants are kept in their own separate fields since they are hyper aggressive to people and other elephants. These were the only two true downsides I saw, but it is far better than the alternative life of mistreatment that the elephants previously came from. They have to stay in at night, as the caretakers need to sleep at some point and the facilities are at risk of being damaged by unsupervised elephants. Even the barns have been designed for their well being though, with piles of sand to make laying down and standing back up easier and accommodating bonded pairs. If two elephants are deeply bonded, they will get to share a double sized barn and sleep together rather than separate. While these two things are not perfect, they are necessary to keep the park operating so that all of their rescued elephants can live a life of peace.

I would not trade this experience for anything. I felt like I really got to learn about the elephants and walk through their day without causing them any stress. The employees all clearly care for the elephants and all of the other animals.

They also offer a week long volunteer program, which really shows you they are not trying to hide any mistreatment behind the scenes.

They also have a dog and cat rescue which serves no true monetary value and really speaks to their...

I really wish I had read the negative reviews here and on reddit before booking the afternoon tour. A disappointing and sad experience. We anticipated we'd be observing the elephants in their "natural habitat" from afar, as advertised. This environment was much more zoo-like. The elephant "families" are kept at feeding stations. Groups are guided from station to station, encouraged to get close to the elephants, and take photos. Sure, this is likely better than their previous circus or logging lives, but is it really a happy, carefree existence?

From the get go, there is a lot of pre-explaining from the guide. Namely, we're told immediately that the elephants may "roam freely" around the park, BUT... the families fight if they get too close so they are "kept separated." Hmm... I'm no elephant expert, but a quick Google / AI search suggests elephants in the wild don't really fight with each other, except males who will fight over mates in heat. I didn't see any males in the "sanctuary." My hunch is they are being kept at the stations for photo ops.

While at one station with a family, the baby started to walk over a sand hill toward a river behind it. It's mom and nanny then followed. We were promptly led to the next station. When we looked back, the baby and family were quickly being shooed back to their station by the mahout. When I asked the guide about why the family was not able to "roam freely" and were scolded back to their station, he said they normally are, but there are other elephants there from a different organization and they don't want the animals to fight. He was VERY defensive in answering our questions. We weren't buying it. We saw this pattern time and again: as soon as an elephant got too far from her station, she was quickly scolded and led back. It almost seems as if the elephants know the only safe time to attempt to wander/escape their station is when the tourists are right there. While it's better than offering rides, it still appears to be a boring, sad life, especially for the babies.

Lastly, the elephants are kept in small confined stables from 5pm when the day staff leaves and other reviews suggest they are forced to bathe for the tourists. I would have gladly sacrificed selfies and up close interaction for less helicoptering from the mahouts. I...

We volunteered here a few years back and absolutely loved it. Lots of reviews from disappointed travellers due to limited elephant access, but if you work within the park you know why. All of their elephants are rescued from logging, entertainment/circus, or breeding industries and most have tragic and traumatizing stories. Elephants are exceptionally sensitive to humans, so the last thing these ele’s need is millions of tourists having unlimited access to them at all times. They put a lot of thought into the care of their elephants. They had an on-site vet and numerous elephants were being looked after by a veterinarian team while we were there. We worked in the elephant kitchen, as well as doing “enrichment” in their overnight pens (essentially we set up food and games so they must reach and stretch, — this is like physio therapy and tries to mimic some natural food gathering). Each elephant has its own guardian that makes sure they stay safe and don’t get into trouble/cross over into unprotected lands (most of these guardians have been with their elephant for many years, having a strong bond. Many of the guardians live right next to the park with their families and are all local. They will also carve their elephants into pieces of wood while roaming during the day, to sell in the gift shop to make extra money for their families - I thought this was neat, the carvings were modelled after actual elephants). They are essentially free roam on the park grounds. If elephants wandered, they used herding techniques rather than abusive tools like other parks do (we witnessed them successfully herd elephants numerous times, hands-off). They know the story behind every elephant on the grounds, and most of those stories are extremely sad :( While we were there we did not see any chains or sticks, and they do not condone riding. For some elephants that are more socialized, there are river baths that tourists can do. Our eles loved being in the river so it didn’t seem distressing to them. Our experience was that it was...