Elephant sanctuary in Thailand

In this post you will read about the best tour to visit an elephant sanctuary in Thailand: the Lanna Kingdom Sanctuary!

This sanctuary is in Chiang Mai and if you have the dream of interacting with an elephant, you can go without fear. They don't exploit elephants for tourism, on the contrary: they rescue animals that suffered abuse and today they receive a lot of affection and care there. Keep reading this post to learn more!

Elephant sanctuary in Thailand: which one to choose?

You've probably already seen images of tourists riding elephants, right? This is a sad reality of tourism in Thailand, but that, thanks to NGOs and awareness in blogs and travel agencies, is changing.

In the past, it was normal to see this type of scene and others like elephants painting pictures, playing soccer, dancing, greeting people… But, think about it: elephants receive very cruel training to do this type of thing, and this training ends up being financed by tourists who pay to take these tours.

The situation of elephants in Asia and around the world is worrying. Look at this data:

There are around 2000 wild elephants in Thailand;

Asian elephants are an endangered species;

It is estimated that the Asian elephant population has declined by at least 50% since 1900;

  60% of Thailand's elephants are in captivity and 60% of these are used in tourism.

The elephants that are “tourist attractions” suffer a lot to be tamed. It is enormous cruelty.

One of the things that the Lanna Kingdom guide told us is that, despite their size and the appearance of being very strong, the backs of elephants are very delicate, and the weight of a person on top of elephants can seriously damage their spines. . So, if you're thinking about doing this tour just to take that nice photo for Instagram, think twice, now that you know a little about what happens in the abusive tourism that happens there.

But it is also possible to consciously interact with elephants in Thailand. That's where the NGOs and sanctuaries come in that rescue them from circuses, trekking camps and other situations where they were exploited. Now, they live with other elephants, are fed and cared for by tourists.

Visiting a sanctuary is also a way to help them. It is very expensive to “keep” an elephant, as they eat the ENTIRE day, approximately 200kg of food and 190 liters of water! Do you have any idea?

In this post I indicate the Lanna Kingdom Sanctuary, which I was able to experience and see with my own eyes the legal and sustainable work they do. If you want to see other options, I suggest doing a lot of research and reading other people's opinions. Choose with your heart, choose consciously!

Lanna Kingdom Sanctuary has three types of tours: Full Day (full day), half day morning (morning) and half day afternoon (afternoon). If your itinerary is tight, with little time to discover Chiang Mai, I recommend the half-day tour, which can be in the morning or in the afternoon. I believe it is enough to interact with the elephants and live this wonderful experience.

Elephant sanctuary in Thailand: how much does it cost and how to book

On the Lanna Kingdom website you can see all the information, but I'll put a summary below for you:

Half Day Tour Morning (morning) | 2,500 THB

Half Day Tour Afternoon (afternoon) | 2,500 THB

Full Day Tour (full day) | 3,500 THB

Assume 100THB = $3 to convert the amount.

You will probably find elephant rides in Thailand for lesser prices, but they will probably not be serious companies that care about animals and encourage sustainable tourism. Do a lot of research before signing up with any tour, make sure they do a serious job.

To book our tour, I emailed them: lannakingdomelephantsanctuary@gmail.com. There is also a phone number on the website, but you'll manage to get everything sorted by email and it is pretty smooth!

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Have fun!

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*All images used in this article are Copyright Free and Royalty Free Images.