Chiang Mai Elephant Sanctuary

We booked our trip to the sanctuary the night before— with a quick facebook message to the sanctuary to make sure that we could book on short notice

We were picked up around 8am from our hostel and drove about twenty minutes to a local market where we could get breakfast for ourselves. We ate breakfast in the back of the songthaew (pickup truck with two benches in the back) and the driver gave us longan fruit to try. From the market we had about an hours drive up a winding road to the sanctuary. The views on the way up were beautiful the greens of the jungle was a big change from the cityscape of Bangkok. 

When we got to the sanctuary we met our guide, Robert. We had to wear shirts that they provided that were in familiar colors to the elephants. Two of the older elephants at the sanctuary were rescued from working roles with tourists and they remember tourists not being nice to them so wearing these shirts makes for a better environment for the animals. 

It’s rainy season currently in Thailand and this was the first day of our trip that it really rained all day- but it really didn’t change the atmosphere of our time at the sanctuary- and more than likely helped with the heat. 

After changing we got to bring sugar cane down and meet the elephants. There are four females and one male elephant at the sanctuary. The male elephant roams the jungle all day while the females stay around the sanctuary during the day and go into the jungle at night. The older two (50 years old and 47 years old) elephants are pregnant- and then there was two younger elephants- both 12 years old and half siblings. 

Our guide was very funny and easy to talk to. He told us so much about the elephants and the conditions that the elephants were rescued from and elephants roles in thai culture and how that is changing. The main change is that more and more places are finally banning elephant riding and stopping using elephants for logging. We got to feed the elephants sugar cane- and take pictures with them. 

We then got to make ‘vitamins’ for the elephants. A combination of different local fruits like bananas, tamarinds and jungle ginger and grains like brown rice. 

Robert showed us one of the ways that the sanctuary gives back to the local community through making paper out of the elephant dung. We couldn’t make it while we were there because it’s rainy season- but he showed us the steps and the final product. The paper is brought to the local village for kids to use in school. 

After we had a buffet lunch- with rice, chicken curry, fried vegetables and fruit. Sitting eating lunch and looking out over the rainy jungle was definitely one of the prettiest views I have had a lunch at. 

Then came the fun part of the day— we got to get into a mud bath with the elephants. The elephants use mud to cool themselves down- so we were in the mud bath covering the elephants. It was incredible to be up close to the elephants covering them (and ourselves) in mud. After the mud bath we walked down to the river. Again because it’s rainy season the trail was definitely slippery but not impossible to get down. We got into the river with the elephants and washed them all off. 

The elephants went their separate way and we continued further into the jungle on a trek to the waterfall. And it was definitely a trek. The views were beautiful and the guide was there to help us over any tricky footings on the way through. The sanctuary has a little rest area by the waterfall where we had a celebratory beer for making it through. They sell hand rolled cigarettes—which is tobacco leaves rolled in a banana leaf (all from local farmers)—pretty much felt like smoking a bonfire but it was an experience! The waterfall was beautiful of course and we could walk behind it into a little cave and relax in the water for a bit before the hike back up. 

The sanctuary is run by people from the local village and while there is a language barrier everyone is super friendly and language really doesn’t get in the way to much. They have jewelry and keychains that the villagers made for sale. The guide took pictures of us all day throughout the trip and they were put on Facebook the following day. We were given little elephant keychains and reusable canvas bags as we were leaving. 

It was an amazing all day experience—and I would love to be able to go back again.