Elephant sanctuaries which we do & don’t support

Thailand

Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai
This sanctuary acts as a 'retirement home' for rescued elephants. It does not promote elephant riding or performances, and is considered a pioneer in the treatment of captive elephants.

Somboon Legacy Foundation, Kanchanburi
Promising a true safe haven for rescued elephants, this Kanchanburi sanctuary allows the animals to interact and live entirely freely. There are only two elephants here at the moment, and they’re both old. Visitors watch from a distance as the elephants follow their own schedule. No feeding, no bathing experiences, instead a very pleasant feeling of watching the elephants as they enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

Burm and Emily’s Elephant Sanctuary, near Chiang Mai
Providing a safe retirement home for a handful rescued elephants, this family-run sanctuary also helps support a range of small businesses in their local community. You can visit for the day, or stay over in their traditional accommodation, but elephant welfare always come first. You’ll have no actual contact with the elephants, but follow them down to the river where you can watch safely from an observation tower as they bathe. Visitors are also welcome to help practically by planting or cutting grasses and corn to feed the elephants.

Phuket Elephant sanctuary
The Phuket Elephant sanctuary is leading the way when it comes to the ethical treatment of retired/rescued elephants. Not only do elephants roam free but they also bathe freely too with the only tourist/elephant interaction allowed at feeding time. Please note that there are parks impersonating them in brochures so make sure you are being taken to the sanctuary in Paklok. They are not affiliated with any other elephant park or sanctuary on the island.

Tree Tops Elephant Reserve, Phuket
A superb, pioneering sanctuary that puts ethical elephant welfare first and foremost. Don’t expect a touristy experience here. Instead, the Tree Tops visitor program is strictly observation-only. You can walk alongside these gentle giants, rescued from the tourist trade, as they make their own way down to the river where they can behave entirely naturally. .

Changchill Elephant sanctuary, Chiang Mai
From 2017 the new owner of this ethical elephant sanctuary near Chiang Mai began to move away from riding, and the four resident females here can now be visited on a no-touch basis. You can watch as they roam the valley and forest, graze and bathe in water and mud, while also learning about Karen hill tribe culture.

Elephant Freedom Village, Chiang Mai
This sanctuary works alongside local Karen hill tribe communities, whose lives are often intertwined with elephants. As well as helping to feed and bathe the elephants, visitors can learn about hill tribe culture with a series of experiences such as traditional meals in a village house, and helping with the coffee harvest. The elephants spend 90 percent of their time at liberty in the forest, and sleep in sheltered paddocks with staff members sleeping next door to monitor their wellbeing.

Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital, Lampang
Not to be confused with the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (also in Lampang) where elephants perform shows for tourists, this is the first elephant hospital of its kind in Thailand. The Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital pioneers new methods and technologies to heal sick or wounded elephants and even has its own prosthetics center.

Elephant Hills, Khao Sok
One of the few completely chain free elephant parks in Southeast Asia. It's a luxury tented jungle camp offering natural encounters with elephants but no riding or performances.

Mahouts Elephant Foundation
This organisation is working towards establishing a shift in attitude within tourism that facilitates the return of captive, working elephants to a protected forest habitat. They currently run a project with hill mahouts in Thailand to oversee the return of previously captive elephants to a protected forest area while finding an alternate income stream for their mahouts. You can join their Walking With Elephants programme in Thailand to help with funding this.

WFFT Thai Elephant Refuge, near Hua Hin
Wildlife Friends Foundation Trust takes an active stance against elephant exploitation. They offer a meet, greet and feeding experience with no bathing or riding etc.

Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary (BLES), Sukhothai
All profits from this sanctuary are reinvested into elephant conservation. Guest numbers are kept low and elephant welfare is put first.

Samui Elephant Sanctuary, Koh Samui
This multi award-winning elephant sanctuary on Koh Samui has opened a second site in Chaweng Noi. Putting the elephants’ welfare first, they do not permit bathing them so as to allow the animals to behave naturally. Visitors can walk with the elephants, and take part in feeding sessions.

Laos

Elephant Village Sanctuary and Resort, Luang Prabang
Elephant Village now claims to have stopped all forms of elephant riding, though it seems that it will still be offered for visits booked before this decision was made. We are waiting for independent confirmation of this change.

Manifa Elephant camp This camp offers mahout experience programs where riding on the elephant is permitted.

Thailand

Elephant Mahout Project, Pattaya
Offers 'volunteer' placements where participants learn to ride the elephants like a mahout. Update: we believe this has now closed.

Kanta Elephant Sanctuary, Chiang Mai
This sanctuary offers bathing experiences where elephants are in deep water with lots of people. We have also seen images on Facebook of very young children taking part in these experiences, in the water. We don't consider this at all a safe activity for kids, and we consider elephant bathing to be problematic, so if visiting Kanta we would strongly suggest you do not take part in bathing activities - especially with children. .

Thai Elephant Home, Chiang Mai
Offers an ‘own an elephant for the day’ experience which includes riding your ‘own’ elephant. It also operates a captive breeding programme, and visitors are invited to ‘play’ with the baby elephants. Habituating them in this way ensures they cannot be returned to the wild.

Chiang Dao Elephant camp, Chiang Mai
Training young elephants to paint and perform. Buys and breeds elephants, which are then trained to perform and kept in captivity permanently.

Patara Elephant Farm, Chiang Mai
An elephant breeding farm which offers rides . The babies are bred to be kept in captivity.

Maesa Elephant Camp
Maesa is now under new management and it looks as though significant changes have been made. According to their website elephants are no longer chained, giving them complete freedom of movement, and mahouts do not ride them or use the hook to control them. We are waiting for independent confirmation of these changes, and that ‘elephant performances’ no longer take place, before moving Maesa off this list.

Elephant Stay, Royal Elephant Kraal Village, Ayutthaya
A tourist focused 'working elephant village', visitors are given branded t-shirts, ride elephants as part of learning to be a mahout, and pose for photos with elephants.

Thai Elephant Conservation Center, Lampang
Not to be confused with the hospital, this is a separate, government owned elephant camp with daily elephant shows and rides.

Surin Elephant Round-up
This festival has been reported for its abuses of elephants including getting them to perform tricks for tourists, engage in mock battles and an 'elephant buffet'.

BMP Elephant Care project
The elephants here reportedly don't live on site but are in fact rented and brought to the camp daily. When not in the camp they are being used for riding, trekking and shows elsewhere. There have also been multiple reports of cruel behaviour at the hands of the people looking after them as well as of grown adults sitting on baby elephants for photo opportunities.

Anantara Golden Triangle Camp
This luxury hotel has an onsite elephant camp/mahout village. It does not offer rides, but instead organises various experiences with the elephants, including dinner, picnics and sunset tours.

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary (EJS)
We are unclear on where their elephants come from, but their website features several photos of babies, making us suspicious that they are being bred in captivity for tourism rather than genuinely rescued. If that is the case, then we are also concerned that for elephants to be safe around humans for activities such as bathing, they must have their ‘spirit broken’ which often involves very cruel practises. If you visit, please let us know your impressions especially around where their elephants may be coming from. We've seen concerning reports online about their sanctuary in Phuket. They also have sanctuaries in Pattaya and Koh Samui which we are similarly interested in.