Day Twenty Seven – Elephant Nature Park
Elephant Nature Park is a special place! Simply put, we would not have come back to Chiang Mai if we did not have the opportunity to spend time at Elephant Nature Park. This is not a knock on Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is an amazing place set in the northern mountains of Thailand, and we highly recommend a visit. However, the mission of Elephant Nature Park and the feeling you get when you are present, is a feeling the world needs more of.
Elephant Nature Park (ENP), located about 60 km north of Chiang Mai in the Mae Taeng Valley, is a pioneering sanctuary founded by conservationist Lek Chailert in the 1990s. Spanning roughly 250 acres, it provides a safe haven for over 200 rescued elephants, many previously abused in logging, circus, or tourist industries, allowing them to live peacefully in adopted herds. The park’s philosophy centers on ethical tourism: no riding, no performances, and respectful observation from visitors who may feed or walk alongside elephants under strict supervision. The herds include blind, crippled, orphaned, and senior elephants who have been given the opportunity to live freely in natural surroundings, where they are treated with love and respect. Our educational programs aim to raise awareness among visitors about the challenges facing the endangered Asian elephant and the importance of protecting this keystone species. Beyond elephants, ENP also shelters hundreds of dogs, cats, water buffalo, and supports rainforest restoration and local communities through employment and education initiatives.
Not the easiest watch, because of the real nature of the documentary, but to truly understand how elephants are mistreated and the mission of Elephant Nature Park, check out ‘Love and Bananas’.
On this special day, we start with a short five minute walk to the Elephant Nature Park Chiang Mai office, and we jump in their van and take about an hour ride to the sanctuary.
Once we get settled at the park, our amazing guide Mos, leads us on a morning walk to meet and enjoy the different herds around the park. Every elephant, every herd, has a story. Most are stories of hardship and how they have been brought to ENP to thrive and live out the rest of their lives in a natural setting. Hope you like elephant pics!
A lot to digest, but a great morning. As an animal sanctuary, ENP stays true to who they are and only serves vegetarian meals. Admirable! And we enjoy a yummy vegetarian lunch with our new friends, which is a perk of traveling, from the UK, France, & Belgium.
The afternoon walk continues to bring meaning and a deeper understanding to the mission of this inspiring pace. We see the medical tent, older elephants with tough injuries from logging and riding, blind elephants from abusive training, then and now pictures from rescued elephants, herds that have grown to become families and look after one another. Tough! But just seeing the elephants be elephants warms your heart.
Our guide gives us a bit of time to check into our room. Quick check in, and we head back to the porch looking out at elephants roaming. Fun way to enjoy a peaceful afternoon!
Our last elephant interaction is unique. One of the herds does the daily trek up the river to the Sky Walk (we will be there tomorrow) to roam freely, and then comes back to the main camp to rest for the evening. Majestic to see a herd gracefully trudging, and even stopping to roll, in the water as they arrive back at camp.
What a day! Finished up with dinner and a few post dinner drinks, hanging with new European friends, relaxing in nature with the sounds of elephants in the background.
Day Twenty Eight – Elephant Nature Park
You have options to experience Elephant Nature Park in a variety of ways: day trips, one night stay, Highland Trek (tomorrow for us) and a variety of ways to volunteer. Both times we have been here, we have opted for the overnight stay. It really is a place you want to wake up at. The peaceful mornings, sleepy dogs laying about, and the elephants walking back out into the fields to enjoy the day. Solid way to get breakfast and enjoy watching all of this unfold in front of you.
This morning, our nature walk takes us off outside of the sanctuary to the new Elephant park. ENP’s mission is growing, so they need more space for these massive, majestic creatures to roam. After about a 15 minute walk, we arrive and observe from a new angle, on the Sky Walk. Eventually, we are back on the ground, observing the elephants up close & personal during their morning feeding.
While Elephant Nature Park began with a singular focus on elephants, they have expanded their outreach to a wide variety of animals: dogs (they are everywhere and we love it!), cats, water buffalo, boars, monkeys, geese, and plenty more we can’t remember. It’s admirable to say the least!
We visit the Cat Kingdom
and dog park. There are dogs all over property and we love it!
Check out of our room, and take a break for lunch.
Our last exciting experience today is an Elephant cooking class. Basically, a fun way for us to make a treat for the ellies. We make elephant cake out of sticky rice, watermelons, cucumbers and bring to elephants as our last interaction. Messy & fun!
Drive an hour back to Chiang Mai to our hotel. We are happy & wiped!
Day Twenty Nine – Highland Trek
Heading into today, we knew our experience would be different. After yesterday, with an incredible amount of admiration, we have twice now stayed at ENP with the overnight experience. We highly recommend it! As for today, we are ready for a unique ENP experience up in the Highlands!
An hour and a half windy drive drops us at a remote mountainside location with a pickup truck waiting.
Set high in the lush northern mountains this project has some the most stunning scenery in the country. Beautiful scenery, awesome jungle walks in the company of rescued elephants make for an unforgettable day waiting for us to get started.
We ride, standing in the back of the pickup truck for a few kilometers down a dirt road to our starting point.
It’s here we get to know our two ellies who will make the trek with us to the main camp. To introduce ourselves, we cut watermelons and feed two ellies.
Putting this experience into words isn’t possible. Maybe simply put, PURE JOY! Not just for us, but the two rescued elephants as well. They are happy to be free, healthy, and following humans with sacks of bananas. Their lives significantly changed when they were rescued by ENP, and we are basking in the joy of their lives in the Highlands!
Only problem, we reached our destination. Sadly, we couldn’t stop time. Thankfully, our day isn’t done. In reality, it’s just getting going as we reach the main park and get to meet the rest of the herd, including a young ellie named Jun. From this point forward, Jun steals the show. Just simply being a happy, curious, and naughty 1 year old baby.
A break for a delicious lunch on the deck with a beautiful valley view.
The afternoon flowed like this: A walk to the hilltop. Meet herd again. Hangout. Enjoy Jun. Cow invasion. Feed ‘the boy’ rice balls. Walk back down. Make rice balls. Feed herd.
Pretty much a perfect day, giving us even more (if that’s possible) admiration for these majestic creatures and for the amazing work that Elephant Nature Park is doing. Not only is ENP raising money to rescue elephants from terrible conditions, they are successfully changing a culture. For generations, elephants have been used poorly in logging industries, and also disgracefully in the tourism industry. Elephant nature park is a model sanctuary, of how you can still create a money making industry ethically, without abuse, without breaking their spirits, without long term harm. The Highland Trek we were part of is a prime example. These rescued elephants are living a wonderful life in nature, and our visit today created revenue to help these elephants thrive, while they are using the opportunity to bring awareness to people all over the world. No doubt, without the effort of Lek and organizations around Asia & Africa, we may be talking about a precious animal going extinct. Thankfully, these efforts are working, but there is more work to be done. Hopefully, we will find more opportunities to help in our future!
https://www.elephantnaturepark.org/
Two Wayfaring Wanderers 