What I Would’ve Done Differently in Thailand: Elephants
Elephant riding has long been an unethical and abusive tourist attraction in Thailand. Now elephant sanctuaries have taken off as an “ethical” way to interact with the gentle (and endangered!) giants. Sadly that doesn’t mean that all of them are true sanctuaries that have foregone abusive treatment of the animals. I wish I would have looked into this more before choosing to go to Elephant Jungle Sanctuary.
After badly spraining my ankle the night before we were supposed to go to Elephant Nature Park in Thailand and then losing a lot of money on the deposit we had paid for it, we decided to rebook with Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. Our hostel owner recommended it and got us a discount. The night before, however, we quickly started reading poor reviews of the treatment of the elephants there. Many people who had visited for just the day had good reviews, but the few who chose to do the overnight stay shared that they saw inhumane treatment of the animals, involving hitting the elephants with sticks.
I didn’t see any of that for myself, so I’ll just share what I saw. The trip there was awful. Crammed in the back of a pickup truck zipping up a mountain, I had to pop a Dramamine so I wouldn’t vom everywhere. When we first arrived, the experience seemed great. We hiked up to the elephants and fed them for a while. They seemed to enjoy it, and everything felt so natural.
After that though, everything changed and started to feel so forced, so much so that it felt unethical to me. The staff forced the elephants to walk around the property with us and to take a bath and mud bath. They really didn’t seem like they wanted to take the baths, and everything just felt so rehearsed to me.
Additionally, the staff barely told us about the elephants – how they got them, or how bad elephant riding is. I had heard so much about how Elephant Nature Park does a great job of educating its visitors about its elephants and about the unethical treatment of them throughout the region. I was looking forward to learning more about that and how more about the sanctuary, but Elephant Jungle Sanctuary did none of that.
Asian elephants are such gentle and sweet animals. They’re endangered, and most in Thailand aren’t treated properly. I am so upset to have supported one of those places that hurts animals just to make a buck off tourists, and I very much wish that we had gone to Elephant Nature Park instead. If you are planning to see elephants in Thailand, please do thorough research first. Don’t listen to locals or your hostel owner – They’re getting kickbacks to give you recommendations. Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai may be one of the only true sanctuaries in Thailand. This article lists some of the best sanctuaries in Southeast Asia along with tips to find the right one.
Did you see elephants in Southeast Asia? What tips do you have for other travelers?
Like this post? Save it for later by pinning this image on Pinterest!
