Let me tell you all about my adventure at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary in Chiang Mai. Elephant Jungle Sanctuary has 8 different camps in Chiang Mai. They will assign you a camp based on the package that you chose and their availability for that day so you can’t pick which camp that you attend. I was taken to Camp 3, so my description of the camp might vary a little from the one that you are assigned but they are all very similar.
The Drive:
They pick you at 630am for the morning tour and there is a two hour drive to the Elephant Camp. You will be riding on a bench in the back of a pick up truck. All I can think is they would never allow this type of transportation back in the US! It was very windy during the drive and since you are going up into the mountains, it can get very chilly as well. Thailand brings images of warm weather and beaches so I didn’t even think of the fact that I was in Northern Thailand and it can get cold. We were all shivering in the back of the truck so I would recommend bringing a cardigan or light jacket with you. The drive became much more tolerable once we realized they had plastic flaps to roll down which cut down on the wind.
Halfway through, they will take a 10 minute stop during your drive so that you can use the bathroom, get coffee, or something for breakfast. The last 30 minutes of the drive has a ton of twists and turns. I started to feel a little car sick by the end and I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. I recommend taking a dramine ahead of time if you are prone to car sickness.
Arrival at Camp:
Once you arrive at the camp, you will have a five minute hike so I would bring tennis shoes or sandals that you feel comfortable walking in potentially muddy, slippery terrain. I would bring something other then flip flops! Once you arrive at camp, they give you a top of the clothing from the Karen tribe to wear. Our guide explained that the elephants recognize the clothing as safe so they feel comfortable with you. The top can easily put it over your top or swimsuit.
Your guide will give you a 15 minute introduction, explain some do’s and don’ts and you are ready to go! Do treat the elephant with respect and be gentle with them. Don’t stand directly behind the elephant or where they can’t see you. They could accidentally kick you or feel threatened if you come at them from behind.
You have another 5 minute steep hike down to feed the elephants. They will provide you with bundles of bananas to feed the elephants. Take lots!! Lots of bananas = elephants liking you and playing with you. No bananas and the elephant will find someone else to play with. I took a ton since the whole point of the tour was to interact and play with the elephants.
Feeding the Elephants:
Feed the elephants bananas one by one. If you hold the whole bunch in front of you, they will grab it all so keep the other bananas behind your back. You are supposed to say bon bon while you raise the banana in the air and the elephant will grab it with its’ trunk. Feeding the elephants was a great way to get comfortable with them. They start by grabbing the banana with their trunk but as they get more comfortable with you, they will let you feed the bananas directly in their mouth. Putting them directly in their mouth was a little dirty and sticky experience but worth a good laugh.
At Camp 3, they had 6 elephants for a group of about 20 people. We had 5 adult elephants including a pair of sisters and one baby elephant. They told us the sisters are very close and the younger sister always follows her big sister around. Normally they have every elephant tagged to track it but they didn’t need to tag the younger sister since they always know where to find it. Doesn’t sound that much different then us humans. We are always trying to follow our older brothers or sisters as kids but we eventually grow out of that phase where I guess the elephants never do.
The guide was feeding the baby elephant and it didn’t seem interested in taking bananas from us at all. I was slightly annoyed because the baby elephant was so cute and I wanted to play with it! But by the end of the day, I realized why. The baby elephant is a naughty elephant as many human toddlers can be as well. So they try to minimize the baby elephant’s interactions with the group. Someone from my group saw the baby elephant trying to take someone’s bag while we weren’t looking. Of course it just wanted to play but the owner of the bag would have would have probably been pretty mad if the baby elephant destroyed their bag.
Elephant Jungle Sanctuary Photographer:
After about 20 minutes, the elephants are pretty comfortable with you and you are comfortable with them. You can ask the guides to help you take some cool photos with the elephants. You can take a photo with the elephant’s trunk wrapped around you. Or you can pose by kissing their trunk. Elephant Jungle Sanctuary is nice enough to provide a photographer for free of charge and they post the photos on their Facebook page in a dropbox for you to collect later. I wouldn’t depend only on them to take your photos but I found some in there that I really liked. I really should have made more of an effort to take some cute individual shots but I was enjoying my time rather then being focused on photographs.
Natural Habitat:
As the time goes on, you will also start to see the elephants behaving in their natural habitat. One of the elephants began gathering dirt in its’ trunk and spraying his back with it. The guide told me that they do that to protect themselves from bugs. Meanwhile, another elephant was giving herself an “elephant massage”. She wedged herself between two trees and was moving back and forth. A girl after my own heart, she loves a nice day of pampering too!
Bathing the Elephants:
After about 45 minutes, they have you leave the elephants and walk back down to the base of the camp. Now it is time to strip down to your swimsuit so you can bathe the elephants. They start the process by measuring one of the elephants per day in order to track their measurements each week to ensure that they are staying healthy. We checked the elephant to make a note of any wounds that the elephants have on them.
Once this is done, you start giving the elephant a mud bath which means completely covering the elephant with mud. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it! Beware the guide will start rubbing mud on you as well whether you like it or not. I ended up with mud all over my back and arm. I guess the guide thought I needed a mud bath too! Once the elephant is completely covered in mud, you will move down to the river.
You will be given small buckets and brushes. While trying to get the elephant’s mud rinsed off with the buckets, you will end up getting your neighbor soaked. It ends up feeling like one giant water fight with you, the elephant, and other guests. And yes the water was freezing cold! But it doesn’t last long so enjoy it while you can!
The only part that I didn’t like about being in the water with the elephant is that you feel like you are in their toilet. One of the elephants began to pee and then poop while we were bathing it. The guide then hurried over to scoop up the poop and throw it outside the river. Their poop looked like giant floating tennis balls. We tried to tell ourselves that it is just made up of leaves and bananas. I guess it can be similar to a public pools with babies that you know are peeing in the pool or heck even drunk adults will get lazy and pee in the water. So I tried my best not to think about what was in the water.
Luckily, I brought a towel to dry off with and clean clothes to change back into. Most of the people on my tour hadn’t planned ahead so they were stuck in their wet swimsuit for the ride back. The shower option was basically like a hose but it did the trick to get the mud off me.
They provide you with a nice buffet lunch of rice, chicken and potatoes, steamed veggies, and fruit. Then it’s another 2 hour ride back through the windy streets making another small break at a convenience store and bathroom. I got back to my hotel around 230pm.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. If you are looking to book a tour, consider picking an ethical tour while visiting with the elephants. Read my posts on How to Pick an Ethical Elephant Tour in Chiang Mai.
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