Chiang Mai — Elephant Sanctuary

What you will do:

A visit to our elephant sanctuary

• A day unlike any other: swimming with the elephants, feeding them by hand, and meeting the calves

born here in Chiang Mai (we do not take elephants caught in the wild, and calves stay with their mothers).

You will meet beautiful Asian elephants and learn how to communicate with them, how to prepare their medicine, how to bathe them and how to walk with them through the

reserve to find fresh food. You will hear about their history in Thailand, and about how buying an elephant experience through our

organisation helps give them a safe, permanent home. The Chai Lai Orchid reserve is one of the best elephant sanctuaries in Chiang Mai.

Then there is the Chai Lai Orchid Cafe, with good fresh food and a view over the valley.

• Travel that means something: the income from this trip goes towards looking after rescued elephants and letting them spend the rest of their lives in

reserves, without fear and without cruelty.

The day itself

A visit to our elephant rescue camp, a beautiful sanctuary in the Mae Wang district. You can feed every elephant in the herd,

swim and play in the river, learn how their medicine is prepared, join in their development activities and meet the calves.

There is plenty of time for photographs and for learning how to communicate with them. Walk your elephants through the forest to find food,

then cool off in the river.

Rest at our cafe.

Meeting your driver. This trip includes pick-up and drop-off in Chiang Mai at 08:00 or 11:00. Pick-up outside Chiang Mai is possible

but may carry an extra charge. We only offer ethical elephant experiences. The elephants we look after and love

are trained every day with positive reinforcement, which is how they learn to respond to spoken commands.

Handling them responsibly is what makes safe veterinary care possible, because they trust the people

who love them and look after them.