Our overnight stay at the Elephant Nature Park was truly a unique experience. There are many places to see elephants in Thailand, but this one is special. Founded by “Lek” (Thai for “Small”) Chailert, the Elephant Nature Park is committed to establishing an ethical approach to caring for these animals. This is not a zoo with cages and fences. There’s no “Elephant Show” here, no elephants performing tricks. People don’t ride on elephants here, and they don’t use elephants for work, as others do. You can find many elephant experiences in Thailand, but this park has been recognized and awarded for its ethical approach to caring for these animals.
On their website, they describe themselves this way:
At Elephant Nature Park, our 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 being an elephant sanctuary, the park also houses hundreds of other rescued animals such as dogs, cats, horses, buffalo, cows, pigs, birds, goats, and more. At Elephant Nature Park, we believe in promoting a harmonious relationship between humans and animals, and our work is founded on the principles of compassion and empathy.
With guides to lead us around the grounds, we walked among these amazing animals, the elephants. We helped prepare a rich but vegetarian meal for them. Our guides would tell us their names and their stories, how they came to the park, who they play with, and how they integrate with others. The grounds are also home to many water buffalo, not to mention hundreds of rescued dogs and cats.
Visitors can spend a few hours, a day, an overnight, or up to a week here, learning about the elephants and helping to care for them. We spent an overnight, in a pleasant, well-appointed room right on the site, giving us two days to appreciate these magnificent animals and the important work that goes on daily at the park.
It was a great experience, the impact of which is hard to put into words, so we’ll just let the pictures tell the story. We are also including two short videos at the end.
Next are two videos. The first one is watching Kahm La’s heard of elephants walk down from the jungle, through the river, to the Elephant Park where they will spend the night. The next morning they walk back to their area in the jungle.
The second video is longer. It’s a compilation of shorter videos as we watch two younger elephants play with a dog.
If you are interested in more information about the Elephant Nature Park or if you want to know the story of each elephant, go to the website. ElephantNaturePark.org
They also have a wonderful Facebook presence.
