Elephants at Home

Elephant Sanctuary

Our first week in Thailand was spent in Chiang Mai. And on our fourth day, we spent the day playing with elephants! One of the reasons why Chiang Mai has become so popular, is because tourists can get an up-close experience with these beautiful animals. I was beyond excited, but also did a lot of research to pick the right one (because there are A LOT to choose from!). My main concern and requirement was that there would be no riding the elephants. And that is how I came to Elephants at Home.

Elephants at Home is a sanctuary run by a family of the Karen Hill Tribe. Thankfully, their tour includes pick-up and drop-off service from your location. The sanctuary is located in the jungle, about two hours outside of the city. The drive felt a lot longer due to the unpaved roads. The last 30-minutes of the drive was rough and a bit questionable at times due to the road being washed out the week prior!

The tour was a full day, and our session had eight of us, which is more than their max occupancy. Usually they won’t have more than six people at a time.  Once we arrived, we were introduced to the four elephants, where we fed and played around for some pictures before we trekked into the hillside.

Before our trek, one of the guides took the time to explain how their family started working with elephants. He also taught us words to say to get them walking forward, backward, or to stop. He showed us how you can verify the good (or bad) treatment of the animals, and whether or not they are still being exploited for rides or tricks. This made me feel a lot more comfortable about our choice.

Each couple was “assigned” an elephant to hang out with for the day. We were assigned the baby elephant and were responsible for his care 🙂

We then walked the elephants down to the river, where we bathed them. Following the bath, the guides walked us along a path to the waterfall where they had lunch set up for us in a small tree hut. Lunch consisted of fresh fruit, sticky rice, and fried chicken.

After a quick rest, we got back in the water and played with the elephants around the waterfall. Then we proceeded to walk back, which seemed a lot quicker! We said our farewells and were on our way. We had an amazing experience with the elephants, guides, and our group as a whole!

Elephants are remarkable animals with an amazing memory. We were very lucky to have found this organization and thankful to have this experience with the elephants in a natural habitat. If you are visiting Chiang Mai and are looking for an ethical elephant experience, I would highly recommend Elephants at Home.