Elephant Valley Thailand

5 Alex Allen - 2 years ago

We stayed for 4 days and 4 nights to volunteer and HIGHLY RECOMMEND this sanctuary.

This elephant project aims to rehabilitate elephants and get them back to behaving like elephants after cruel treatment for the benefits of tourists - circus, riding, trekking, bathing, constant hand feeding etc.. This project has a number of stages, kind of like primary/lower school, secondary/high school and university/college, that elephants graduate through as they rediscover their natural behaviours. There is a programme of hand feeding and chains at night but this is necessary rehabilitation and part of the process of undoing what other 'sanctuaries' have done in the past. Eventually the elephants will graduate to none of this through this project.

It was amazing to collect and prepare food, maintain the sanctuary from poo collection (honestly it's fun!) and we helped repair a concrete slab. You'll get involved with whatever needs doing and whatever you feel comfortable doing. The elephants have such incredible individual personalities and for us this was the best sanctuary we found to observe them ethically.

The accommodation was excellent and the food was both delicious and plentiful. The staff were friendly, fun and knowledgeable. Thank you so much to the whole team and if you are considering visiting or volunteering...just do it!

5 Ronja Busse - 2 years ago

Awesome place! I learned so much about the elephants and got to cut banana trees that I then fed to the elephants. Also the two guides were so incredibly nice and kind and answered every single one of our questions. They are a truly ethical elephant sanctuary!

I did the full day tour for 2.000 Baht. It was just a bit too long in my opinion, a half day tour plus the optional volunteering would've been perfect (for me). Keep up the good work! ????

5 Augustin - 2 years ago

Beautiful rehabilitation centre for elephants that were used for tourist traps and logging. Incredible and caring staff who teach you so much about the work they do and about their elephants. There is no direct contact with the elephants apart from some feeding towards the end of the tour, but highly recommend this place for everyone going to Northern Thailand to visit. Please don't partake in locations riding (or even washing elephants for that matter) or that use the elephants for 'show'.

5 Colin Ho - 2 years ago

Definitely worth a visit and a good way to see and experience the elephants in a more ethical way... There's no touching or washing or riding them here. You just get to observe from a distance. If you want you can stay a night or a few nights too. It's a bit on the expensive side compared to other Elephant tourism in Thailand but these are rescued Elephants from circuses, logging or tourism they just get to hang out trying to be themselves as best they can.

5 Kerry Irwin - 4 years ago

This place is amazing.
Our tour guide was jack, the manager. I did a lot of research about all the elephant sanctuaries because I didn't want to choose one that promoted riding elephants or circus elephants.
I wanted to see elephants in their natural habitat and I feel the elephant valley sanctuary succeeds in that.

Jack was extremely informative about the elephants in Thailand and his elephants. I'm really happy I chose to spend my money here and support all that jack does with these amazing elephants.

You can also volunteer your time during the tour and help out with clearing vines for new trees to be planted or cut down banana trees for the elephants to eat! We loved helping out and seeing how much work it actually takes to care for these elephants.

5 Brandon Biggs-Winter - 2 years ago

Thank you to JJ, Bim u0026 Phon (sorry if spelt wrong) for having us at Elephant Valley, it was such an amazing experience and definitely the highlight of our trip to Asia! We did the full day tour/volunteering experience with overnight stay at the guest house which I would 100% recommend for anyone considering seeing elephants in Thailand! This is a true "sanctuary", totally hands off to tourists so you get to learn about and see first hand how these beautiful animals interact in their natural habitat which is incredible. Not only that but you get to help the keepers and staff prepare the elephants food, clean up their poo (more fun than it sounds) and genuinely help to keep the sanctuary a great place for the elephant to live . Thanks again Elephant Valley Thailand!

5 Hojung Kim - 3 years ago

I did half-day tour including pick-up and drop-off to my places, Lanna-style lunch, and feeding experience. You can see elephants' natural behaviour, expressing their true emotion. :) Also I learned a lot about elephants with their own stories. It was meaningful time. I strongly recommend to visit there!(don't forget long-sleeved clothes and insect repellent!)