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Without question, one of the best experiences while in Thailand is spending time with the Asian elephants. There are countless parks, reserves, and sanctuaries throughout the country that offer the rare chance to meet these gentle giants. With so many available options, however, it can be difficult to choose the right elephant place. The truth is, not every self-proclaimed elephant sanctuary in Thailand provides the best life for their animals. Too many elephant sites still exploit their elephants for tourist entertainment. They use harsh training methods in order to put on elephant shows and provide visitors with elephant rides. This is precisely the type of place we wanted to avoid when planning our family trip to Thailand. So, I went to work browsing the endless amounts of information online. I was determined to find an ethical elephant sanctuary in Thailand that we would be happy to support.
Finding the Perfect Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand
As I scrolled through the results, I came across an article from National Geographic. Its title was, “Suffering Unseen: The Dark Truth Behind Wildlife Tourism,” written by Natasha Daly. In it, the author describes the sad lives of wild animals in captivity around the globe including elephants in Thailand. Suddenly, it occurred to me that Ms. Daly would be the best person to contact and ask for advice. It was a long shot to think that a National Geographic journalist would answer back, but I wrote her anyway.
List of Great Elephant Sanctuaries
Lo and behold! Ms. Daly not only replied back, but she also sent me a list of recommended elephant sites in Thailand. These included Elephant Valley in Chiang Rai, Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand outside of Bangkok, Boon Lott Elephant Sanctuary (BLES), and Phuket Elephant Sanctuary. Just like that, I had the names of some of the best elephant sites in Thailand, recommended by a National Geographic animal welfare journalist. Now all we had to do is pick the place! And since we had originally planned to visit an elephant sanctuary near Chiang Mai, we decided to go with Elephant Nature Park.
Elephant Nature Park Chiang Mai Tour Options
The next order of business was to figure out which specific tour we wanted to take. You see, Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai runs quite a few projects inside and outside the actual park. The problem was, everything they offered sounded great. Then, I remembered that one of my great aspirations in life was to see a baby elephant up close. I contacted the park and asked them which one of their tours was suitable for kids and had a young calf. They got back to me and recommended a project called Karen Elephant Serenity. This was a site located outside the main park, and there was a female elephant calf. Her name was Heng Heng, and she was almost 4-months old. As soon as I received this information, I booked us for the Karen Elephant Serenity tour.
Baby Heng Heng
Where to Stay
While in Chiang Mai, we stayed at Chada Mantra Hotel, a nice place in a great location with a fantastic restaurant in the lobby. If you don’t mind sleeping on a firmer bed, you will love it here! To see other highly rated options from Booking.com in Chiang Mai, click HERE. We have filtered out the lower-rated listings for you! Booking.com is our favorite website for finding great places to stay!
Karen Elephant Serenity Project
On the day of our elephant adventure, we got up and ate a quick breakfast in Chada Mantra, our hotel in Chiang Mai’s Old City. Right around 8:00 a.m. the Elephant Nature Park shuttle pulled up near the entrance, and we climbed in. It was so great that the park offered pick up and drop off at each visitor’s hotel.
What to Bring
When you visit an elephant sanctuary in Thailand like Karen Elephant Serenity, there are a few things you might want to bring. Be sure to pack sunscreen, bug repellent, comfortable clothes and shoes, sunglasses, and a hat. If you are planning on swimming and getting muddy with the elephants, pack an extra set of clothes. Also, you might want to NOT wear something you really love, because mud can be extremely difficult to wash. Consider putting on your swimsuit and bringing a pair of swim shoes for the elephant bath and mud pit.
Shuttle Comfort
Once comfortably seated inside the shuttle, we met the other elephant enthusiasts. Our group was small, but it included folks from several different countries. There was a couple from Spain, a family of five from France, the four of us from the US, and our two guides from Thailand. However, one thing we all had in common was the desire to spend a day out in the company of elephants.
On the way to the park, our guides played a short video to educate us how to behave around the elephants. The gist of it was: Don’t pick up any food that the elephants drop because they could smack you with their trunks. Don’t surprise the elephants from behind, because they could kick you like a football. Feed the elephants by putting food in their trunks but never in their mouths. Lastly, treat the elephants with respect to have the best experience!
Bouncy Arrival
On the road to Karen Elephant Serenity
After the video was over, we drove for a while longer before we finally pulled off the road and stopped. Everyone in our group got off the shuttle expecting to see the elephants of Karen Elephant Serenity. Instead, we found an old, beat up pickup truck, with benches made of thick branches in the back. It turned out this was our next ride! Grinning at each other in disbelief yet filled with adventure spirit, we climbed into the back of the truck and found a place to sit.
As soon as the truck started moving, we found ourselves on a narrow dirt road, bouncing off the “benches.” This didn’t deter the photography enthusiasts in the group, though. We held up our cameras, cell phones, and GoPros capturing anything and everything we could. After about ten or so minutes of bouncing, we successfully arrived at a shelter made of bamboo and dried leaves. This was it! We were finally at the Karen Elephant Serenity project site!
Us on the truck
Meeting the Elephants
As soon as everyone got off the truck, two adult elephants accompanied by an adorable baby began trotting towards us. This was easily one of the greatest sights EVER! The lovely trio stopped at the nearby feeding area to get some breakfast and water. The baby was four-month old Heng Heng, and the adult elephants were her mom, Mae Kham Suk, and her nanny Kham Noy. We learned that having a nanny is very common in the elephant community. Female elephants help each other with raising the calves, which is great since those cute babies can be quite naughty!
Baby Heng Heng, her mom, and her nanny in the distance
Getting closer!
Sweet baby Heng Heng with her nanny
Mae Kham Suk, Heng Heng, and Kham Noy at the feeding area
One of the caretakers giving water to the elephants
What a nice long straw!
Heng Heng trying to get some water, too
Dani really having fun with the elephants of Karen Elephant Serenity
Baby Escape
Heng Heng’s first order of business was to sneak out of the feeding area, galumph towards a small flower patch, and stomp on it. One of the caretakers tried to scold her, which only prompted her to stomp on the flowers even harder. While Heng Heng was busy smashing the flowers, her mom and nanny enjoyed chewing on some sugarcane leaves in peace. Heng Heng joined them for a minute and tried to pick up a few leaves herself. However, she quickly gave up on this challenge and snuck between the wood rails of the feeding area again.
Heng Heng sneaking between the beams of the feeding area
Here she comes
Half way there
Here she is, stomping over the flowers
Sweet Heng Heng playing around while mom is trying to eat…How adorable is she?!
Heng Heng getting playful with one of the caretakers
Amazing Elephant Facts
At this point, our guides called us to the shelter nearby and told us it was time to prepare some snacks for the elephants. They explained that eating plants and leaves is an all-day activity for them. However, we had to make sure to give them some more nutritious snacks along the way. Unbelievably, adult elephants eat close to 10% of their body weight each day, which would amount to a mind-blowing 700 or 800 pounds. This is a ton of food!
Sugarcane leaves for breakfast
Something else we learned from our guides was that Heng Heng’s nanny was pregnant. Her baby was due in a little over a year. Amazingly, elephants pregnancies last close to two years, which is the longest gestation of all mammals.
Mid-Morning Snack
Fascinated by all this information, we started preparing the elephant snacks. Basically, we filled up several baskets with small bananas and bamboo shoots, then carried them out to the feeding area. This is when the real fun began!
Unsure what I was doing at first, I took a banana and raised it towards Kham Noy. Right away, she reached towards me with her trunk and picked it up. Instead of putting the banana in her mouth, she secured it near the tip of her trunk and reached out for more. This time, I gave her a bamboo shoot, and she held onto it the same way. Kham Noy continued reaching for more snacks until she collected five or six in her trunk. Then, she placed them all in her mouth and swallowed them at once. After all, why eat one snack at a time, when you can devour a whole bunch?!
Nanny Kham Noy gathering a bunch of snacks in her trunk
Baby Heng Heng also Wants a Snack
All of us, kids and adults, had an absolute blast feeding the adult elephants. Meanwhile Heng Heng kept stumbling in between their legs trying to pick up something herself. At one point she took a really large bamboo shoot in her trunk, but couldn’t figure out what to do next. Heng Heng was not ready for solid foods yet, as she was still a nursing infant. This didn’t stop her from trying though…she seemed quite determined to try to copy what her mom and nanny were doing!
Walk in the Field
After the elephants had some of their snacks, it was time to go for a walk. We packed up the remaining snacks in designated snack bags, and followed the elephants to a nearby sugarcane field. There, Mae Kham Suk and Kham Noy continued to eat, while Heng Heng kept running around and playing. From time to time, they would reach toward the snack bags with their trunks, and we would hand them a banana or a bamboo shoot.
Kham Noy, the nanny, walking towards the sugarcane field nearby
Kham Noy and baby Heng Heng walking near the sugarcane field
Dani about to give a snack to Kham Noy from her snack bag
Angie and I with Kham Noy, the nanny
Heng Heng’s mom getting a bite
When the snacks were all gone, we walked over to an elevated wooden shelter in the middle of the field. It was great to escape the hot sun for a bit while watching the elephants from above eat their way towards us. We relaxed up there for a bit, then went down to rejoin Heng Heng, her mom, and her nanny.
Elevated shelter in the sugarcane field at Karen Elephant Serenity
Looking at the elephants from the shelter…Can you spot Heng Heng?
Getting closer and closer to us
Mae Kham Suk, Heng Heng’s mom, saying hello
Mom Mae Kham Suk and baby Heng Heng walking in the sugarcane field
Mae Kham Suk devouring some more sugarcane leaves
Dani and one of the caretakers admiring Kham Noy
Hubby and Angie relaxing up in the shelter
Heng Heng Needs a Drink
At this point, one of the caretakers noticed that Heng Heng was trying to reach for his water bottle, which was empty. He said that she was probably getting a little thirsty, so our daughter Dani happily offered her remaining water. With the help of the caretaker, she poured some of it in Heng Heng’s trunk and she got a few refreshing sips in her mouth. Then all of us happily walked back to the main shelter.
Baby Heng Heng getting a little water in her mouth
Here is Dani giving baby Heng Heng some of her water
Nanny Kham Noy and Heng Heng walking together
Vegetarian Thai Lunch for Us
When we returned from our elephant walk, it was time for lunch. The lovely staff at the sanctuary had prepared delicious vegetarian Thai food, and it smelled heavenly. As we were getting ready to start serving ourselves, one of our guides called Dani and put her to work. Using a pestle, she had to mix some fresh salad in a large wooden mortar. She was, of course, very happy to help.
Dani mixing salad for lunch
About to have lunch at Karen Elephant Serenity
Our vegetarian Thai lunch…Sooo delicious!
Once everything was ready, we got some food and sat down to eat. I don’t know if it was the natural beauty of the area and the elephants nearby, but it tasted like the most incredible Thai food ever. Everything was so fresh and so full of flavor, we just couldn’t get enough. All of us went back for seconds and even thirds.
Karen Hilltribe Crafts
When lunch was over, we helped clean up the tables, then stopped by a small shop nearby. There a young Thai woman was weaving beautiful scarves, and we just had to get one. It was really mesmerizing to watch her work on her exquisite craft. I assume she was from the local Karen village, because the style of the scarves was typical for this tribe. When in Thailand, be sure to pick up a handmade Karen Hilltribe shirt or a scarf. They are gorgeous and so soft!
Local Karen Hilltribe woman making gorgeous scarves
Change of Clothes
The next order of business was to get ready for the elephant’s bath. Our guides brought us a change of clothes so we can go in the water with the elephants without destroying our own attire. They gave us some loose pants and beautiful handmade Karen Hilltribe shirts. I felt a bit guilty wearing such a nice shirt in the muddy water, but apparently they knew how to clean it.
Making Afternoon Snacks for the Elephants
Before we headed to the elephant’s muddy bathtub, we spent some time making their afternoon snacks. This was quite an interesting experience as it involved smashing and mixing rice, bananas, and a few other nutritious ingredients together. To do that, we used a large wooden pestle and a mortar. The pestle was secured to the end of a long seesaw, and we had to use our body weight to lift it. All of us took turns stomping on the opposite end of the seesaw in order to lift the pestle. Meanwhile, one of our guides kept mixing the ingredients in the mortar. Let me tell you, it was quite a workout, especially in the heat…but nobody seemed to mind!
Ingredients for the afternoon elephant snacks
All the kids in our group learning how to make elephant snacks, dressed in their Karen Hilltribe shirts
Here are the kids working the seesaw, helping make the elephant snacks
Shaping the Delicacies
When the ingredients were well mixed, we made a bunch of tennis-sized balls and placed them on a large tray. In half of the balls, we added prenatal vitamins for Kham Noy, since she was pregnant. We stuck a leaf in her snack balls, in order to mark which ones to give her. After the elephant delicacies were ready, all of us picked up small plastic bowls and walked over to the bathing area. We were to use the bowls to pour water over the elephants.
Working on shaping the snack balls for the elephants
Bath Time
As soon as we got to the bathing area, Heng Heng, her mom, and her nanny went right in the water. They began splashing, turning, and rolling around, and we assisted with getting them all wet. Some folks in our group went all the way in the water and others just up to their knees…But everyone had a blast! It was incredible to be this close to such majestic animals and see that they were living happily in a genuine elephant sanctuary!
Heng Heng excited to get all soaked
Baby Heng Heng going in the water
Time to freshen up
Elephant bath time
Dirt…
After bath time was over, it didn’t take long for the elephants to get all messy again. Almost immediately, the two grownup ladies picked up dirt with their trunks and threw it all over their backs. Since Heng Heng wasn’t quite skilled at this yet, she rolled around on the ground. Our guides explained that the dirt keeps the elephants cool and protects their skin.
Powdering up after the bath
Silly baby Heng Heng dragging her hind legs
…And Mud All Over
Another, even better elephant spa treatment was a mud bath. This is the ultimate elephant skin protection and rejuvenation secret! This is why, from the bathing area, we headed directly towards the nearby mud pit. There, the elephants made sure they thoroughly covered every inch of their body with sticky red mud. Most people in our group decided to not participate in this activity, and watched from the side. Only the bravest among us went in the mud with the elephants and made a huge mess of ourselves. Luckily, there were a few showers near the mud pit, so we could wash ourselves a bit. Trust me, it took at least two more showers to completely get the mud out of our hair, but it was totally worth it!
Going for the ultimate beauty treatment…Mud bath it is!
Heng Heng getting muddy
Heng Heng having fun in the mud
The few brave souls that decided to get muddy, including Dani and me
Here is the aftermath
Snack Time
After we cleaned up as much as possible, Dani and I walked back to the main shelter. Most folks in our group were already there, and they had already changed into their original dry clothes. When everyone was ready, it was time to give the ball snacks we had made earlier to the elephants. This was our last chance to feed these amazing gentle giants. We made sure Kham Noy got the snacks with the prenatal vitamins, which we had marked with leaves.
The kiddos giving the elephants their afternoon snacks
Heng Heng sneaking through the wood beams again
There she goes
Baby Heng Heng running around again
Heng Heng trying to get a drink of water straight from the hose
Baby Elephant Pacifier
Right when we finished giving the snacks, baby Heng Heng came next to me and picked up my hand with her trunk. She then put it in her mouth and began sucking on it. I gently pulled my hand out, but she immediately grabbed it with her trunk and placed it again in her mouth. Apparently my hand made a really good baby elephant pacifier!
Baby Heng Heng sucking on my hand
Saying Goodbye
At this point, everyone started gathering their belongings and settling back in the old truck that brought us here. Sadly, it was time to leave and say goodbye to sweet baby Heng Heng, her mom Mae Kham Suk, and her nanny Kham Noy. I couldn’t believe that an entire day had flown by so quickly, but that’s how it goes when you are truly happy. Without question, this was one of the greatest days of our lives. We will never forget the time we got to bathe and play with Thailand’s beautiful gentle giants. And I will always cherish the day my hand became a pacifier for the cutest baby elephant ever!
A quick family photo before we have to leave. We will miss you!
Visit an Ethical Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand
When you plan a visit to Thailand, be sure to visit a genuine ethical elephant sanctuary. If you are in Chiang Mai, definitely book a tour with Elephant Nature Park. It’s not the cheapest option in the area, but it’s worth every penny. Remember that the money you pay will be supporting the efforts to save and free these magnificent creatures. Not to mention, you will have the most amazing time of your life!
IMPORTANT
When traveling abroad, make sure your passport is valid for at least 6 months AFTER your planned stay. There are many countries that follow this rule very strictly. If you show up to the airport with a passport that expires in less than 6 months, you will NOT be allowed to board your plane! Click HERE to learn more and to see the list of countries that require 6 months of remaining passport validity.
Resources to Help Plan Your Elephant Sanctuary Visit
Ethical elephant sanctuaries in Thailand
- Elephant Nature Park – A wonderful elephant sanctuary in Thailand that runs a variety of different projects in the Chiang Mai area.
- Elephant Valley – Another great elephant sanctuary in Thailand located near Chiang Rai.
- Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand – An ethical elephant sanctuary outside of Bangkok, Thailand
- Boon Lott Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) – Another great and caring place in Sukhothai, Thailand
- Phuket Elephant Sanctuary – One more ethical elephant site on Phuket Island in Thailand
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, the photos in this post were taken by Vessy and Cameron with a Nikon D5600 camera and iPhone X. Please send us an e-mail at vessy@feelgoodandtravel.com if you would like to use any of them. All images are subject to copyright laws.
This activity took place on July 29, 2019.
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9 comments
What an amazing experience! Definitely, one you’ll never forget.
Oh how fun it would be to give them a bath! What an adventure for you and your family.
They are so adorable. I am glad to see that they are being taken care of so well!
This looks like an incredible adventure! That baby elephant is so cute!
I wanna go hang with Heng Heng! So adorable. What an incredible experience for your entire family. I’m always a little skeptical of places claiming they’re an animal sanctuary so that is so cool the National Geographic journalist gave you personal recommendations.
What an amazing experience you’ve had. Elephants are such special creatures.
Meeting the elephants is such a great experience that you will remember for ever.
Oh my GOSH!!! I would LOVE to do this!!
What a beautiful experience! Elephants are such magnificent beings. I’d love to see them up close like that and interact with them.