Chiang Mai: Elephant Sanctuary Visit

In 2015 I read a Jodi Picoult novel, Leaving Time, heavily referencing elephants. From that book I have learned about their intelligence, rituals, grief. Stories of the abuse they had experienced to keep them tame. After that I knew that it would be a dream come true to visit elephants in a sanctuary.

This 2019, I made my dream come to life! Kudos to my bestie who agreed to let me take her on a little (and expensive) detour in our Thailand trip.

Why not the zoo?

"Bakit hindi ka na lang mag Manila Zoo?"

Most of the time that I share with friends that this is a big thing for me and how much I want it, their response is always about a zoo being closer and easier. 🙄

I feel like the zoo is the opposite of sanctuaries (or as I read it in the book) because the animals are still in captivity, far away from their family. Yes they are not technically free here but they are taken care of. They are being fed regularly which is expensive because they eat a lot, and are free to choose and roam around with their own herds. In a zoo or a circus the only way for these elephants to be tamed is by hurting them!!! I have watched the story of Dumbo in the cinema recently and almost all through out the movie it felt like all hope was gone. That's how bad it is for them.

In Thailand, they use elephants as attractions, there's probably an elephant display everywhere you go as much as there are Buddhas. I've seen a few real elephants during our stay where you can ride on them. It is unethical. Also very smelly (as compared to a sanctuary) 💩❗️❗️PLEASE DO NOT ENGAGE IN THESE BUSINESSES ❗️❗️

Why Chiang Mai?

Despite having a lot of elephants and sanctuaries all around Thailand, there are still a lot that's unethical according to blogs. Our first choice was Elephant Nature Park as respected influencers claim that this may be the only ethical sanctuary we can find. I didn't find a lot of testimonies about it online so we ended up booking Elephant Jungle Sanctuary via Klook. Based from the experience we didn't see or experience any bad practices.

For Chiang Mai we booked a domestic flight because we didn't want to burden ourselves with 8 - 12 hours of travel by land. We opted for comfort over budget. What we didn't do was spend more time exploring Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai as we have limited days in Thailand. The sanctuary was the one and only item in our itinerary.

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

We opted for a full day visit because the 2 day one is already too expensive for our budget.

It is marketed (not just in this sanctuary) that tourists are volunteers because we are funding the budget they need to feed and take care of the elephants. That we are helping and not just here to take pictures. 

Travel

They picked us up in the hotel where we were staying and the ride was 2 hours long. Since me and my bestie did not research about the weather in Chiang Mai and relied only from the testimony of our friends that went to Bangkok about how hot it is there, we were not prepared for the cold ❄️❄️❄️! And the car that picked us up was a pick up! I almost didn't make it 🥶

The ride was really scary once we were close to the sanctuary. It was off road and it is easy to fall straight down with the wrong speed. 🎢

On top of that, I was prescribed to take meds a few months back with the craziest of side effects. I felt really bad and uncomfortable during this travel, good thing it was worth it.

Groups | Co-tourists

We were the only asians in the group! We are also the smallest in height 😂

We already bonded a little from the road trip with a few of them. All are very nice as well and are happy to see the elephants just like us. 

My bestie and I were the only kill joys who did not kiss the elephants 🙈

Back in Bangkok we booked another tour and all of the other tourists with us are Filipino too. There was a big difference! I was irritated at how my countrymen complain a lot about everything which wasn't the issue here in Chiang Mai. There wasn't any negativity in the place making it more special.

Guides | Caretakers 

They were very nice just like every other local in Thailand. Very informative and also very playful. It's like they are just playing and this is not work. They made sure everyone was included and making the most of the experience.

They also like to photobomb.

Some of them does not speak english but they try! Keeping a conversation with them is a little bit of a struggle but we also saw that they enjoy conversing with us with the limited words we could all understand. I have so many questions but I try not to ask a lot because we will struggle more with the language 😅

Elephants!

Ahhhh, this is the dream! 🐘

Probably most of the money we paid went into the food that we fed them with 🍌🎋. That's all they do every day! They can get very picky tho with what food they want (bananas).

They can get very sneaky too!

And then we took a bath with them. This was one of the reasons why I chose this place as the other one (Elephant Nature Park) recently disallowed this activity (watching only).

Thanks to the tour guide next to me for the mess in my arms 💩

Meanwhile when we were there it had been more than enough for me to watch them from afar entertain themselves in the water. Unbothered and happy 💆🏻‍♀️, the state I strive to be in. I didn't really feel like I need to be next to them all the time to make the money I paid for worth it. So I would probably enjoyed the Elephant Nature Park tours as much as I did here.

Overall it was really overwhelming. I knew from the moment we decided we are going to Bangkok next that this will be a special day in my life and it did not disappoint. Something as simple as feeding them food and seeing them up close meant to world to me. 2015 me must've never expected this day to come 😍😭.

If I really think about it (but please don't let me), this could top watching Paramore live.

I had loved the experience so much that I realized this is where I want to be when I retire, or as a shift in career (as the photographer of the tourists). The peace I've been searching for all these years, this might be it. When I don't know the first thing about taking care of animals or anything about living as simple as this. I'll figure it out. Anything to be with these giants again 🐘🐘🐘

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