An elephant sanctuary in the jungles in Thailand
The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary is honestly one of the main reasons we chose to settle down in Chiang Mai for those six weeks (not the only reason, but definitely one of the biggest deciding factors). An elephant sanctuary was on our bucket list before we even started out on the trip, and it has been on my bucket list since forever. Before anything else, it is fundamentally important that you realise that elephant "sanctuaries" are biiiiiiig business in Asia, and especially in Thailand. But not all of them - and in fact, very few of them - are genuine sanctuaries.
When I say the word 'sanctuary', I mean no riding, no prodding, no caging, no chaining, nothing that is harmful to the elephants. Elephant Jungle Sanctuary is, we believe, one of the few genuine elephant sanctuaries in Thailand. This is actually a sanctuary with multiple locations, making it one of the largest operations in the country. Before we started ticking off bucket list items and travelling more fully, we both knew we did not want to support any wildlife or environmental activities or organisations that allowed cruel practices in any form to take place or within organisations who have their animals in cages or small enclosures (this is the reason we did not go to any of the big cat experiences or an elephant park that allowed riding of elephants).
So, before getting into it. Your research is so, so important. It is 2018, and there really is no excuse to consciously support organisations that exploit and abuse the creatures they claim to love in front of their customers, behind closed gates. Be smart about the organisations you choose to support, understand the impact your (perhaps seemingly) small choice can have on an entire industry. In our case, we looked up reviews for weeks, watched vlogs and read blogs from other travellers who had been to the sanctuary, etc. I can say confidently that Elephant Jungle Sanctuary gave us no reason to question the authenticity of their sanctuary in Chiang Mai, and for this reason it was everything we wanted it to be, and even more...
The cost of the ticket might seem steep, but it really is quality and authenticity over quantity here. We were picked up and dropped back at our hotel, given water and food, spent the entire day with these magical creatures, up close and personal, and a photographer went around and took photos for the website that are available free from their social media - which is awesome because it means that you are taking only a little footage yourself (if you take your own camera) and really immersing yourself in the entire experience rather than documenting it (i.e. what travel experiences should always ultimately be a balance of). We took our GoPro with us too, so between it all we got incredible footage. Additionally, because we booked online, when we got back to the hotel we were given our very own Elephant Jungle Sanctuary shirts (you can see us wearing the pink and blue ones given just for the day...our keepsakes were purple). You can't drive yourself there, and once you see the road in, it makes perfect sense why.
Arriving at the sanctuary takes a little over an hour from Chiang Mai after everyone is picked up, but the excitement makes the drive worth it. You can stop over to use a bathroom at one of the villages on the way up to the sanctuary in the mountains. One thing both Josh and I found hard to see and heartbreaking, was the amount of times we saw elephants chained to bamboo fences under small shelters along the sides of these roads. What is important to remember here is that yes, these operations are cruel, so do not support them. But it is also important to remember that the people running these operations are just trying to support their families, and sometimes that looks different to how we would all want to.
When we arrived at the sanctuary, the road down was an adventure in itself. Bumpy beyond belief, and built into a kind of cliffside crevice in the jungle, you begin to see the sanctuary come into view. Excitement turns into sheer adrenaline, and you just want to jump out the back of the ute tray and run. When we got there, we were led down to a large undercover area where we were given water and our sanctuary shirts for the day. The handlers ran us through how the sanctuary works, and then the first elephants came into view in the distance...
The guide talked us through what we were going to be doing, starting with the feeding. Taking bamboo pieces from large buckets, we tucked them into our pockets and our hands and wandered down to the first group of elephants to say hello. I literally squealed - like, a high-pitch squeal of delight. It's on video. So we get down, and the elephants are super aware of us straight away. They walk over, lifting their trucks and literally start feeling in our pockets and just taking the bamboo pieces. Saying, "bon bon!" as you lift the bamboo piece into the air, the elephant uses the straight up insane dexterity of their trunk to grab as much bamboo from as many angles as possible, as quickly as possible.
We found ourselves staring in awe...and running out of bamboo very quickly. And then I just started to cry happy tears. For the rest of the day, and looking at our footage later that night, I teared up on and off. This had been such a big bucket list tick, for so long, and finally getting to do it and know that we had made sure as best we could that we supported a legitimate sanctuary (and seeing for ourselves that they cherished, loved, and respected the elephants in their care) was everything we could have asked for. We realised while there that you could actually stay overnight, and I am not kidding when I tell you I very nearly did...
'She realised the spell that had been upon her in the depths of that far-off jungle.'
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes
After playing with these guys and getting to get really up close and personal with them, we went back to the undercover area to learn how to make one of the elephant's favourite snacks. We sat in groups and made these sizeable balls of rice, banana, and nuts, and had some food and water ourselves. Then we left it all behind, and walked out to a field. This is where I really lost it. We were walking into this big meadow, and my baby elephant radar went off the rails. Two tiny babies in the distance, with a group of four adults, were eating bamboo shoots. I don't know if I have ever been so excited, but I was practically in tears and scrunching up my hands in excitement when we finally got to them.
One of my favourite parts of the babies (aside from their feet...I mean, come on, have you ever seen anything cuter?!) is that they have so much energy. While the adults walked around gracefully, the babies would sporadically barrel around, running, away from the adults and the small group of people. Guys...I cuddled a baby elephant. Multiple times. And watching Josh love them just as much as I did, made the experience so much more special (if that were even possible). We played and fed these babies and adults for a while, before (hesitantly, on my part) back to the area where we had left the banana and rice balls.
We were told it was time to feed the elephants again, but this time, the rice balls had to be put in the elephants mouths, not their trunks. So, we wandered down and approached and fed the rice balls to the elephants. And then it was time for swimming with them! We got to finish the day off by swimming with them in their mud pool, bathing them in mud, helping them wash it off, and swimming in stream under the rain with these gentle giants. We honestly did not want to leave...one of the biggest (both literally and figuratively) bucket list ticks of our lives had been ticked off...and we already wanted to go back. Every time, even now, that we watch the footage, it makes us so, so happy. Elephant Jungle Sanctuary has something magical here. It truly does.
