Ethical Elephant Experiences in Chiang Mai

We’re very careful about wildlife experiences. In Thailand, almost every elephant sanctuary calls itself ethical, and it’s hard to know the truth. Some places have powerful connections, so no one dares to expose them.

So we had to do lot of digging - speaking with conservationists, reading reviews and visiting multiple times. These are the few that are truly no touch, no bathe, no feed, with no harmful training behind the scenes. They're run by people who genuinely care about the elephants.

Ethical elephant tourism balances the needs of elephants and the people who care for them. In Thailand, many mahouts rely on tourism to feed their elephants and believe tourists want selfies and close interaction, so they feel they must offer it. But touching or bathing elephants is stressful and often involves harmful training behind the scenes. Ethical sanctuaries use tourism to fund care, while letting visitors observe from a distance and allowing elephants to live as naturally as possible.

You can visit these sanctuaries year-round since the elephants live there, so sightings are very reliable.

However because you'll need to walk through the forest to see the elephants, we'd recommend avoiding these couple of months:

• March - because of burning season, when smoke from crop burning makes Chiang Mai hazy.
• September - the wettest month, so trails can get muddy. Still very doable as the trails are not hard, but just less comfy for you!