Toto's Elephant Sanctuary

This was the highlight of our 5 days in Chiang Mai. A great day for our family of 4 (children 8 and 11). Pick up from our hotel at 8.15 then approx 1 hour drive north into the hills. We had a toilet / coffee stop on the way. There are several elephant sanctuaries in this area. These elephant tours / day trips have changed a lot since my last visit to Chiang Mai around 15 years ago. There is no more riding on elephants which is a good thing. At this sanctuary the elephants can roam freely over a large area of jungle. Large variety of landscape, rivers, mud pools, thick forest, bamboo, steep slopes. When you arrive at the camp you get a set of loose fitting blue clothing, this is to protect your own clothes and also the elephants recognise these. We met the elephants - there are 7 here, all females, and fed them bananas so they were familiar with us. We then did a 90 minute walk with them. You can see them in their natural habitat eating different plants and pulling up bamboo. This was a fantastic experience for all of us. You need reasonable mobility to do the walk, it is slow paced but over rocky and uneven ground. 2 other people on the tour with us. The guide was great, good English and excellent knowledge of the elephants. At the end we helped bathe the elephants in mud then washed off int the river. You can get in with them. A nice lunch was provided and water. Then drive back to our hotel. We would highly recommend this tour 😀.

A must do experience if you are visiting Chiang Mai, we loved every minute spent with the elephants. Feeding them and walking along them through the jungle was an unreal experience. You can tell the animals are genuinely happy and well cared for. The hiking and the rafting was a pleasant surprise, the jungle lands are really beautiful and the finishing waterfall was astounding. Rafting the end of the trip was really fun and exciting.

Great experience! The elephants were fed with bananas first for photos, but then largely left to find their way through the jungle on their own. No pressure on them, no riding, nothing. Just watching and trying to not stand in the way.