An ethical guide to seeing elephants in Thailand
It starts with a trip to the bathroom
June 2022
Somewhere in the jungle of northern Thailand, nature literally calls. I’m on private land, and grateful that a clean compost toilet means I will avoid getting 100 mosquito bites on my bottom or ants literally in my pants. I stride off confidently only to be stopped in my tracks right before the wooden toilet hut. Between me and the hut is an elephant. What is the etiquette when queuing for the loo with an elephant!?
I shouldn’t be completely surprised - we are in an elephant sanctuary which we have deliberately chosen because elephants can roam free - but they typically stay deep in the foliage looking for things to eat, or come out to a clearing where they sniff out food. But this is the beautiful thing about elephants: even though they are highly structured animals with routines that revolve around the masses of nutrients they need to eat, they are big enough to always be full of surprises.
In 2022, we visited ChangChill (Doi) Elephant Sanctuary which we hoped represented the future for Thailand’s existing elephant tourism industry. There, four resident elephants grazed, bathed, and socialised in the hills of Chiang Mai, and we simply hiked into their land and, if we were lucky, observed them in their habitat.
ChangChill transitioned from Happy Elephant Care Valley in 2017 when they ended all contact between tourists and elephants, to meet a growing demand for responsible elephant experiences. The transformation was pioneered by animal welfare charity, World Animal Protection, as part of a coalition with leaders in the travel industry, including TUI Group, Thomas Cook Group.
This was not a safari. They were not in the wild. They were contained in an area of around eight acres. There are some rope fences, but the elephants knock these over or pull them up if they wish. They are free to roam and eat wherever they want - within reason. Their mahouts go with them everywhere for the whole day, but they stay out of the way and only communicate with the elephants if they are wandering over to a rice paddy for example. The age-old problem; coexisting with humans. When we were there, one of the elephants headed over towards the paddies, and the mahout waved his arms. The elephant looked at him, almost sighed with disappointment at foregoing fresh rice grains and waddled off for a different snack.
The symbol of the north
Elephants have always been associated with the north of Thailand. They are spiritual animals in the Hindu and Buddhist religions that prevailed here over time. The ancient rulers of the Kingdom of Siam used to ride them into battle and they were accumulated to demonstrate power and wealth. As the British logged their way across the region in the Colonial era, elephants did much of the work clearing and moving massive teak. With the demise of legal logging, the elephants were deployed as tourist attractions to “earn their keep,” as elephants required land and food which mahouts (their handlers) could not afford.
As a result elephants have always been here and have been “trained” for the benefit of humans. Working with hill tribes on a water project in 2019, I was asked why I would not ride an elephant if I would ride a horse. It’s a fair question that underpins some of the moral dilemmas when discussing elephant welfare. But hordes of tourists are not the same as a hill tribe community who may use an elephant for work in the forests and I for one don’t want to be part of a demand for elephants for the sake of rides.
In modern day downtown Chiang Mai, you no longer see elephants downtown, either wild or in tourism. However, their presence is felt everywhere: on the town’s emblem, the university seal, and statues and images of elephants prevail everywhere.
But in Sukhothai (mid way down the country) we came across them on private land, foraging and fossicking, throwing small trees out of the way in the search for food. There, they are used in the evening at performances and celebrations in the temples - amidst a lot of bright light and sounds. I hadn’t expected to see them in either location - and while it’s impossible not to be mesmerised by their ponderous tai-chi like gait, it’s distressing to see them used like this.
In the southern town of Ayutthaya elephants were literally in the traffic. I was on a bicycle - the elephant was crossing the roundabout. I tell you - you always give way to an elephant! The elephants were sadly going to and from their “work”, giving rides to a long queue of people in the intense heat and humidity. It was heart wrenching, we stopped for a while just to watch the elephants comfort each other, in awe of their gentleness in the face of so much disregard. In both these instances we documented what we saw and left reviews on websites discouraging these activities. I can’t even bring myself to post the photos here.
Elephant needs
During the pandemic lockdown, elephants were thrown into the spotlight as income from tourism ended overnight. Some of the parks simply turned the elephants “to the wild”, but this was problematic. There is only so much “wild” that elephants can return to in our modern times. They ended up encroaching on farmer land, scaring villagers and ruining crops. Better sanctuaries tried to see if other parks could support or care for their elephants. Web cams were set up so that people could engage with the elephants and provide financial support as they watched from around the world. Jane Goodall spearheaded a massive campaign to try to get elephants in captivity - especially those in poor conditions - to have access to food. One silver lining is that the debate about elephant welfare returned to the spotlight, as it became apparent just how much support and space an elephant needs.
During the pandemic, ChangChill called on the world to be virtual mahouts, supporting the cost of food and vet treatments. They also pivoted to small-scale farming for income before returning to the sanctuary we visited in 2022 - effectively a retirement home for elephants that have had a rough life in captivity, to now enjoy more freedom than they have ever been gifted. On two occasions, led through the forests by an experienced guide, we found them buried in the dense greenery, munching their way through the trees and we kept a respectful distance whilst watching in awe. The mahouts ensure we don’t get anywhere near, knowing the behaviours and preferences of each elephant intimately.
Our third elephant encounter was when they came to us. One of the ways visitors can make themselves useful in the sanctuary is mixing a nutrient rich elephant ball - mashed up grains, bananas and sugar canes; rice, pepper, salt, herbs picked up on our hike here and grass seeds. These are then hidden in long, strong tubes which the elephants sniff out and work out how to enter using their trunks. It’s called enrichment, basically activities providing mental and physical stimulation to replicate the behaviours they’d have in the wild (like opening up rotten tree trunks) and it prevents them from getting bored. We sat a few metres above them and watched them hoover up all the food and fruit they found. They were in no hurry to leave afterwards and seemed to watch us with as much interest as we watched them.
As it started to rain one of the elephants wandered off to a muddy embankment to revel in the rich red mud banks - mud is like elephant anti-perspirant. Another headed for the river to try its luck at the rice paddies, and one (unbeknown to us) headed near the sanctuary toilets to give me a fright.
How to choose a sanctuary
To visit an elephant sanctuary was not one we took lightly. We had been coming to Chiang Mai for a few years and are lucky to have friends and contacts who work for animal NGOs including with animals in Thailand and elephants specifically. We followed their guidelines to make a decision on what kind of sanctuary to support.
Elephants in many venues across Thailand still offer rides but the elephants ability to tolerate this is the result of a cruel and intensive training process. A global study in 2017 showed the number of people who find elephant riding acceptable has dropped down to 44% . The research also showed that 80% of tourists would now prefer to see elephants in their natural environment.
But while a lot of sanctuaries say they no longer use hooks or chains, this isn’t everything. Washing and riding wild animals remains problematic. In January 2025 at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre, a 22-year-old tourist was gored while bathing an elephant. While the mahout was charged with negligence I have to question the logic of getting into the water with an animal weighing 3 to 4 tonnes. I think those contemplating these interactions need to consider what techniques have been deployed to make the elephant placid enough to behave exactly as the handlers want when stressed by crowds or co-erced into riding or washing - and what might come from the elephant not wanting to do that. Other elephant camps have gone so far as to call themselves sanctuaries and advertise no riding or bathing but don’t actually meet proper animal welfare standards, so an endorsement from an animal welfare charity is essential.
If you didn’t know about this at the time, and wish you did, you’re now armed if anyone asks you for recommendations. If you know someone who is planning a trip to Thailand please spread the word about how to make informed decisions. As consumers we have a lot of power. Elephants need more land but it seems unlikely humans are going to give that up soon. What we can do is help them live comfortably and safely. It’s much nicer to find them on your way to a jungle wee than it is to line up for a ride on a working one, or force it to take a bath. Since we visited ChangChill, they have acquired land to also run a Hillside Sanctuary too so we hope that demonstrates that more people are realising elephants are best being elephants.
Thanks to my husband Jon Crooks, for some words and pictures and Dion Russell, animal rights activist for their help with this story and connecting me to WPA contacts.
A huge shout out to you, Rowena, for placing the spotlight on these gentle giants in light of their natural behaviour in a habitat that is - unfortunately still - diminishing. Your story brought back happy memories of my 1-yr long stay as a volunteer teacher in Chiang Rai. I stayed with an NGO who formed an alliance with the local hill tribes, focused on combating human trafficking.
While this NGO solidly abstained from the "use" of elephants in their eco-tourism, I witnessed plenty of it in many locations - among others Chiang Mai. It broke my heart to see this in real life. Yet, I was impressed to learn how much care the elephants keep showing to one another in those dire circumstances. We humans can learn so much from them 🐘
Excellent post, Rowena. I learned a lot and was glad to see that tourist attitudes are beginning to improve, or at least become a little less selfish.