Elephant Nature Park In Chiang Mai, Thailand: The Best Place For Ethical Animal Tourism

While much of my time in Thailand played out like a club 18-30 holiday, our week in Chiang Mai was different. I was humbled by getting up close and personal with some beautiful animals at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. There are plenty of cultural things to do in Chiang Mai, but spending some time with majestic elephants in the Northern Thai province should be on every travellers’ bucket list.

There are numerous ways to see elephants in Thailand and not all of them have the animals’ best interests at heart, but the Nature Park in Chiang Mai is the most ethical place to interact with elephants.

Responsible elephant tourism in Thailand at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai

Spending a day at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai is an eye-opening experience. Nestled in a natural valley and surrounded by mountains, it’s run by a lady called Lek (which means ‘small’ – and small she is), who was brought up in a village tribe. She was gifted an elephant as a child after she saved a man’s life and has dedicated her life to rescuing elephants from the Thai tourist trade and rehousing them at her huge conservation, which opened in 1995. When she saved her first elephant, she kept it at her house.

Lek was named as Asian Hero of the Year by Time magazine in 2005 and this incredible woman clearly lived and breathed her herd – I spotted one elephant wrap his trunk around her neck and give her a big, smelly kiss!

There were 35 elephants at the park when I visited, all living happy, healthy lives and being looked after by their dedicated carers. Only four were males, and there are some heart-wrenching friendships between the animals. One elephant we met was blinded by her previous owner and was very timid, but she made a friend at Lek’s centre and now the two elephants never leave each others’ side.

Around lunchtime, the roaming elephants gathered and let us feed them. They weren’t scared of humans anymore, thanks to the care they’ve received at the rehabilitation center.

There were two babies when we were there and the older elephants were very protective of them.

Most of the creatures had terrible backgrounds in illegal logging jobs or, after being abandoned when logging was banned; sold to trekking companies in Thailand. While at the park, we watched a video that showed how these trekking companies train their elephants by forcing them into submission. To do this, they keep them in crush pens and beat them. A lot of the elephants we spent time with bore physical and mental scars from their time in abusive situations. Learning about this definitely soured the idea of elephant rides through the forest and I realised just how much suffering was behind those pictures of tourists sat on an elephant’s back, grinning stupidly in their harem pants.

We fed the elephants bananas and pineapples then headed down to the river to bathe them.

You get used to standing next to the largest animal to walk the earth quickly, and forget about the sludge under your feet when you’re stroking their rough skin.

You can volunteer at the park to work with the elephants or help out at the adjoining rescued dogs center.

Book a one day tour to the Elephant Nature Park 

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