Elephant Cafe Samui — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

I though this was a rescue elephant center where we could have something to drink while we watch the elephants roam freely doing their own thing.

Unfortunately thats not the case. When we arrived, there was a man jumping right at us with a hand written board letting us know that this is a rescue center and that if we want to feed and bath them, there are tours/program at 11 am, 1 pm, 3 pm etc. The 11 am as there was a big group coming in.

While some people think this is ok, for us this is not a rescue program. Yes the only elephant we saw was not chain, but he is not free as he has a schedule he has to follow to entertain the group of tourist coming. He has to eat when people come to feed him, bathing him, touching him and making poses for photos. A real rescue center is when we human DONT interrupt whatever the elephant is doing. A real rescue is when an elephant DONT NEED to follow a program to entertain people.

Beside this, when we were about to leave the elephant was right next to the parking lot. A car came to park, the poor elephant got so scared that he ran into the bushes and the man was hitting him...

❗️ No Café anymore, still 1000% worth it❗️

We were a little shocked today because we expected a calm Café where you can watch the elephants and take some photos. As soon as we arrived we had to sit down and a table was shown to us: you have to pick out a „package“. The first option to choose is A (500 Baht/person) where you can give fruits to only the BIG elephants and take selfies / photos for 5-10 minutes. The A+ one costed 750 Baht and the other two ones where over 1.000 baht and offer you to shower with the elephants and also feed the babies. For somebody who knows this before there is absolutly no problem.

The packet A was the one we chose and we had such a wonderful experience!!! We were able to get lots of photos and cuddles. The Café that was once there is not existing anymore.

ℹ️ When paying with credit card you have to pay a...

Looks like another fishy site to trap tourist to support highly profitable "elephant business". It's all packaged so well, the promotional message is there, and they set the starting "donation" prices for feeding the elephants. If it's donation basis, and you're doing it from good will, why are the packages and predefined prices for donations? Looks like another cover up business trying to make profits from...