Thailand is a beautiful, scenic country full of amazing experiences that we believe everyone should see. You can really do almost everything here from see amazing natural sea life to venturing in the mountains or going off grid in the national parks. You really have it all and it totally makes sense why it’s some people’s favourite country to visit. Seeing Elephants were a massive highlight during this trip!
For us, it’s a place we see ourselves exploring and exploring until we see every inch of the country… but we know it would take a long time.
Thailand is very rich in their array of animals and boost amazing diversity across the animal kingdom. From the Indochinese Tigers, to giant lizards, whale sharks, many types of monkey and the infamous Asian elephant!
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Asian Elephants Background
Asian Elephants are found across Asia, with the majority of the population being in India and Sri Lanka, and the rest found across Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. These elephants are much smaller than their Africa counterparts, standing at roughly 7 – 10 feet tall at the shoulder; with African elephants towering at 8 – 13 feet at the shoulder.
These species are similar but have some distinct differences between the two. These include the size; Asian elephants are known to be quite a bit smaller as we have stated above. Also, the Asian elephants have a distinct one “finger” trunk whereas African elephants have 2. This means that African elephants can almost pinch objects as a grabbing motion whereas you may see Asian elephants roll their trunk to grab an object. The other main differences are the head shape, the Asian elephant having two bulb like shapes on the top of their head and they are different, round-shaped ears which are smaller than their African descendants.
Asian Elephants Protection
Unfortunately, Asian Elephants are used in various different ways for money or entertainment, which means the number of wild Asian elephants have been in decline for many years. We would ALWAYS urge people to visit these animals and be loving and respectful towards them, and only support organisations that have the animals best interests at heart.
Usually, these elephants will be used for tourists to ride them, or use them in construction when moving large objects out the way. When doing this, they are not treated well and are manipulated to complete their task. If you are to visit any area that does promote this we would urge you avoid this tourist trap, as it is harmful to the elephants and only promotes locals to carry on with this sad activity.
The elephants are still used in circuses across these countries where they are taught to dance, climb, and perform in front of a crowd. During their routines they would be whipped or beaten into submission so they complete their performance for the crowds and again is such a sad story to hear. We have first hand experienced some elephants who have been beaten and abused so bad that they are forever impacted by their torture and still act out “dance routines” out of fear on being beaten once more. More on this later on in the blog.
In both instances, we would never recommend anyone to part take in animal exploitation and would always point people to visit organisations that support these beautiful animals. Below we have highlighted some of the amazing organisations and opportunities to marvel at these beautiful creatures.
How to see Elephants in Thailand
Elephant Jungle Sanctuary
In Phuket and Chiang Mai is a sanctuary which have always supported abused, exploited and mistreated elephants from all walks of life. When you visit this sanctuary you are taught how to safely move around these amazing animals and give them the respect they deserve.
When visiting, you get half a day or a full day depending on what package you choose, and have an itinerary packed full of amazing things. In the morning, you are picked up from your stay, and taken to where the Elephants are free to roam. The elephants are allowed to wander across the many acres of land that is protected by the sanctuary as they wish, but are usually hovering by the food as expected.
Upon arrival you will see elephants wandering and hovering around the food spots anticipating their lunch. You are given an introduction of the day and given the rules from the sanctuary. Each elephant has their carer, and they prepare the food they eat for lunch which you and the volunteers for the day will be feeding the elephants. The food will either be vegetables or fruit mixed in rice that is shaped into balls or local bananas. These are the elephants favourites and you can grab the food as you wish and feed it when ever elephant you wish!
As someone who has only done it once (so far), it can be daunting feeding them due to sheer size of them but after a few times you will become more comfortable with the gentle giants. You can go round and meet all the elephants and you can speak with volunteers at the sanctuary who will inform you of the name of the elephant, the history of each elephant and their experiences.
Unfortunately, most of the elephants have some sad stories and we will give you an example below just to show what some of these amazing creatures go through and how important it is to support these animals.
The elephants can be very food orientated so don’t take too long and ‘tease’ the elephants with the food as they will look to try and grab it from you. The best way to feed them is to hold it in front of them and they will use their trunk and their ‘finger’ to wrap around the food which they will then drop it in their mouth. Don’t worry, the elephants eat the banana peels so don’t think about peeling it for them!
At the sanctuary, there is a photographer that will go around and take photos of you and the elephants which you can get at the end of the day to remember your experience by.
The end of the feeding will lead you to grabbing some food and meeting the people in your group while the elephants go off with their owners and get ready for their mud bath.
You get homemade local food which you can have a hand in making for the rest of the group if you wish. Lunch will be a spread of local foods and fruit which you can help yourself to so get ready for a hearty lunch! The food is amazing and really is flavourful, you will not be disappointed!
After lunch, you are to get ready to get mucky!! The elephants will be in a large natural mud bath which you will be joining them. It’s better than it sounds trust us! So you need to get your trunks on and then meet the elephants in there.
The activity is grabbing a bucket and chucking it on the elephants. Make sure to stay away from the back of the elephants as they can be unpredictable and obviously they cannot see you so you definitely don’t want to be sat on! The aim is to cover the elephants (other than their face) in mud. The elephants love the attention and mud and will like to try and roll about and even spray mud on themselves (and even you). The elephants will definitely show reveal their personality and once they are all covered, they are shown to the natural waters where they are scrubbed down and washed.
Here you are given a scrubber and the elephants will let you scrub them on the sides and the top of the head which is very nice for them. We had some older elephants aged around 70/80 who were still playing and grabbing the edges of the bank and swinging in the waters. They would dunked their heads under and grab the weeds out the pool.
It’s beautiful to see the elephants enjoy themselves and live a simple life where they can be themselves. The experience is truly beautiful and was definitely one of the top highlights of our trip!
Find a trip to an ethical sanctuary in Chiang Mai here.
Elephant’s Sad Story
One of the elephants who we believe was roughly 30 years of age was previously owned and was a part of a circus who would travel the country. The Elephant would be taught simple tricks and dances and during rehearsals , the elephants would be whipped, abused, & beaten so they would complete the dance/trick and make no mistakes. These elephants then develop these actions into their personalities and unfortunately it becomes them. The elephant we talk about was 8-10 years rescued but would always sway in a dancing motion and would NEVER stop. After speaking with the carer, the elephant will NEVER stop this movement as the swaying (dancing) will mean they are not beaten and the elephant isn’t aware that it is safe from these horrible people and if it was to stop, nothing would happen. Unfortunately it is engrained into them and has become apart of their personality which is upsetting to hear. However, these sanctuaries are the best places for them and they are looked after really well.
Elephant Watching in the Wild
Kuiburi National Park
In Kuiburi National Park you get to see wild elephants! It’s only open from 2pm – 6pm so make sure to visit the park beforehand to maximise your chances to see the elephants. You are in a safari and drive around the park with a ranger who will find the elephants and keep you at a safe distance to observe the elephants in their natural habitat. Usually this is roughly 50-100 metres away so you don’t disturb them so make sure to bring some binoculars to get the most out of the trip! If you forget binocular’s or don’t own any, don’t worry! You can rent binoculars for roughly 100 baht.
When visiting the park, you are required to pay a national park fee which is roughly 200 Baht for an adult plus the cost of a ticket. The reason they charge this is because it’s attached to the Kaeng Krachan National Park which the elephants are able to free roam. It’s a great location to see elephants as the park has thin jungles great for visibility but also has over 200 elephants thriving in this habitat.
Khao Sok National Park
Here is the location we would recommend to see elephants!! There is no guarantee to see elephants here as they can be quite rare but trust me, if you do get so see them, it is totally worth it. Not only do you have the chance to see elephants in their natural habitat but you are also on a massive lake and there is a whole experience to the park. Beyond seeing the elephants, you are to stay on floating bungalows, go on hikes to look for elephants and so much more!
It’s an experience that we would definitely recommend for anyone! In the morning on our way out of the park we stopped at a popular elephant viewing spot and found a mother elephant and her calf coming down to the waterfront. Time really stood still and it was such a majestic experience. We sat there for what felt like hours just admiring the beauty. We felt so lucky to experience this and if you manage to get this lucky then you will never regret it! To learn more about the full Khao Sok National Park experience you can visit our designated blog here.
Seeing Elephants in Thailand
There are many ways of seeing these beautiful animals in Thailand, but we would always recommend to look at the all the ethical ways. Make sure to do your research to which sanctuaries across Thailand are actually ethical as many will try to market as ethical to bring in more people. There are many sanctuaries to choose from for this and we may even do a blog post soon so you have all the options at your disposal.
Many people dream of seeing elephants so do make it top of your itinerary when you are visiting Thailand, you won’t regret it!
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Our Top Traveller’s Essentials
Backpack – Osprey Farpoint 40 – This backpack is a staple amongst many travellers! Being a lot cheaper than the luxury brands, this is a quality backpack from a well known brand. It boasts quality durability, is lightweight with a great framework and is a great option for most people! This backpack has a hip strap to help carry the bag, a breathable harness strap, and comes in multiple colours!
Compression Packing Cubes – Compression cubes are our favourite packing accessory! These cubes are similar to the normal packing cubes, but feature a compression zip, meaning you can compress your clothes down… this makes packing easier, limits the space you are using, and means more room for souvenirs etc!
Powerbank – Don’t lose power when travelling! It isn’t always guaranteed to find charging ports, so we would always suggest carrying a spare power bank, just incase you do run low on power when you need it!
Universal Travel Plug Adapter – Most backpackers/travellers visit multiple countries during one trip. And that means it isn’t guaranteed you will be using the same plug head during each place. A universal plug is great as it lets you switch between each plug head style all in one item! We love ours, it has USB slots meaning multiple items can be charged at once.
Find our full packing list guide here.
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