Hanging out with elephants is probably on most Thailand itineraries. As much as I wanted an envious picture of myself riding one of these amazing creatures, I didn’t want to look back on the photo and question whether or not I should feel guilt about the experience. I’m not passing judgment, I just decided that I personally didn’t know enough about the practice of riding elephants to feel comfortable doing myself. I was ill-prepared as far as researching opportunities to spend a day with elephants in Thailand. I hadn’t taken much time to research before I had left on this trip – a two-month trip to Asia that I took because of an opportunity to teach in China for a month. I had tacked on a trip to Thailand since the airfare was cheaper to fly round-trip into Bangkok and had decided to simply buy a round-trip ticket to China from Bangkok. It wasn’t until I had arrived in Chiang Mai with ten days left in my trip that I began to research elephant sanctuaries in Thailand. After spending quite a bit of time holed up in my dorm bed on my tiny computer, I took the recommendation of the owner of my hostel to visit Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. I was slightly hesitant of this decision because I wasn’t sure if my idea of humane treatment of elephants lined up with his. He seemed like an honest business owner but I had just met him. Plus, in my experience, values and understandings can get lost in translation across different cultures. However, my first choice of an elephant sanctuary, Elephant Nature Park, which a friend had visited and vouched for from a previous trip to Thailand was completely booked. At the time, I believe Elephant Nature Park was the most popular and well-known of the elephant sanctuaries near Chiang Mai. I scoured the internet for reviews of Elephant Jungle Sanctuary and found everything to be positive. The brochure that the owner of my hostel handed me promised “No Riding” stamped boldly across the cover photo. I spent the day at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary feeding them, assisting them with their mud bath, and washing them off in a nearby waterfall. I’m not sure if the elephants felt connected with me but I definitely thought we hit it off 🙂 I’ll never look at elephants in the same way again.

Thank you for visiting my travel blog! Time to do some visiting of your own and remember to be a respectful guest!