Phuket - Elephants

Xire

Xire

Xire

Soldato
Joined
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Hey guys,

Off to Asia in November and I will be spending 5 days in Phuket and would like to spend a day with the Elephants! Has anyone done this that could recommend a specific sanctuary? One that isnt harsh to the elephants and treats them as naturally as they can.

Cheers
 
Sorry I can't recall who we used. But we did this in about 1998 using a properly run company. We trekked the day on them through a jungle. At lunchtime we stopped at a waterfall where my wife swam with one of the elephants. Locals cooked some amazing food for us. It was a brilliant day and the elephants seemed well cared for.

Sadly at another hotel near the airport they had one chained up to a post just to attract visitors. The poor thing looked very unhappy.
 
I thought elephant rides are suppose to be unethical. That even if the animals seem quite happy as adults, training them to be like that involves what we would view as quite cruel methods. At least a quick google of 'elephant rides' just brings up pages of how it is unethical.
 
McGray said:
Just don't.
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This.

Most reputable companies have now stopped working with any elephant ride companies.

There may be a couple of real sanctuaries out there but much like the tigers and other “sanctuaries” most are just there to make tourist money.
 
There is only one real sanctuary in the whole country and I believe it's in the North, maybe Changmai area. They let you bath and feed them, but that's about it.

Basically, don't get involved.
 
VincentHanna said:
There is only one real sanctuary in the whole country and I believe it's in the North, maybe Changmai area. They let you bath and feed them, but that's about it.

Basically, don't get involved.
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Ive been to one up near Changmai that rescues elephants, that might be the one you mean. https://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ Its actually really good and you can still get close to the elephants (feeding them, washing them, getting good photos (my missus also got felt up by a baby one which was hilarious to be honest).

They take you out in groups to walk amongst them in their park too.

Dont go riding one, its cruel.
 
most of phuket is run by cartels who have hugely inflated their prices to rip off tourists.

taxi from airport to hotel should cost you like a fiver at best yet they ask for £50 and then you need to waste 2 hours haggling with them.

it's like this when you try and buy anything in thailand but phuket is the worst of the worst for it as it's so small and cut off.
 
Went to several of them a few years ago during a business trip. Never again. None of them adhere to a western standard of ethics when it comes to the treatment of animals. Save your money.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
most of phuket is run by cartels who have hugely inflated their prices to rip off tourists.

taxi from airport to hotel should cost you like a fiver at best yet they ask for £50 and then you need to waste 2 hours haggling with them.

it's like this when you try and buy anything in thailand but phuket is the worst of the worst for it as it's so small and cut off.
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That's easy to avoid though. Just buy a taxi ticket from the stand outside the airport. Never go with someone shouting 'Taxi!'. It's not just Thailand either, it's pretty much the whole of SE Asia is like that.
 
Gixer said:
That's easy to avoid though. Just buy a taxi ticket from the stand outside the airport. Never go with someone shouting 'Taxi!'. It's not just Thailand either, it's pretty much the whole of *the world* is like that.
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Fixed ;)

It’s the same the world over. Taxi drivers at airports know they can take people for a ride (pun intended), whether it be SE Asia, Africa, the Middle East, even western nations.
 
Yeah another in the just don't camp here. I'm big into my nature but I gave that a big miss when over there. They love elephants and all but when it comes to tourism most things go out the window. Plenty of other things to do there mind
 
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As others have said Elephant Nature Park is the one, but it's well out of your way in Chiang mai, not cheap either but they cost a lot to feed.

They do have another project in Kanchanaburi, dont know much about that one but if they are associated with it id say its safe to assume it runs along similar lines.
 
I did a similar one in Chiang Mai. Elephant sanctuary I think it was..1500 baht. Quite inexpensive really. Don't underestimate the blazing heat and....don't run :D
 
Don't do it, I would be wary of any elephant sanctuary and doubly so if it has babies you can feed. That almost certainly means they are not rescuing Elephants but they have a captive breeding program and they are then separating them from there mothers so you can feed them. Very few if any countries in the world these days have sufficient numbers of working domesticated elephants to need any form of rescue/sanctuary program so almost all these places are tourist traps exploiting these majestic creatures to put money in peoples pockets and animal welfare will not be a priority.
 
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