Many tourists visit Thailand with a hope to ride an elephant. It’s pretty typical and the Thai government and local cities promote it due to its popularity within the tourism industry. After some pre-trip research, we found this is actually quite cruel to the elephants. Despite their enormous size, their spines aren’t meant to carry such weight (between the mahout, a couple tourists & the seating apparatus… the weight can easily exceed half a ton). Additionally, baby elephants are captured in the wild, separated from their parents, and go through a brutal tortuous domestication process that can take up to two weeks in which they’re tied in place by ropes, starved & severely beaten and must be watched at all times so they don’t purposefully step on the trunks to suffocate themselves and end their misery. This breaks their spirit to make them docile and amenable to learning stupid circus tricks. So it’s a rotten industry, one that we refused to support and one that Americans can’t act as if they’re above given all of the stories of atrocities about the circus industry’s treatment of animals. So instead, Amy and I found this awesome Elephant Nature Park, a couple hours outside Chiang Mai, that’s a charitable sanctuary for elephants rescued from not only the tourism industry, but also the logging industry (Thailand has outlawed use of elephants in logging but it’s still done deep in the jungle by local villages) and those injured by accidents (including land mines still very prevalent in Laos thanks to the secret American war). The large parcel of land containing river access was donated to the reserve, which happens to be right down the road from one of these elephant riding parks (we jokingly imagined bar fights erupting between the locals at night), and further donations go towards buying elephants out of the tourism industry and upkeep of course. It’s a lovely place and you can pay to visit, tour the facility and interact with the elephants. It was remarkable to be so close to and touching, feeding and washing these very gentle, sweet, intelligent giant beasts. It was remarkably life changing and I urge anyone who’s visiting the area to schedule a visit.
I’m off my soapbox now. Thanks for listening.
Below are a bunch of links to YouTube videos, primarily for my niece & nephews but also for any elephant loving adult. They’re pretty sweet. (Fam – I have a few more vids of elephants eating; lemme know if you want those too).
https://youtu.be/io5iGu5-ewM
https://youtu.be/A7f1UtPHBiI
https://youtu.be/zB50fEM8ntg
https://youtu.be/zuJ6HQZA8rw
https://youtu.be/f3-M_ZiEHLI
https://youtu.be/127z008qdTc
https://youtu.be/j0xtV4W-X24
More elephant videos for you freaks.
https://youtu.be/RnqWAqJCfYM
https://youtu.be/j7HEJIdQ9k8
https://youtu.be/qnCd6M_wYEI
https://youtu.be/g3ksu7iPzlU
amusemusings 
Thanks for posting this. I’m sorry that we contributed to this problem by taking you all to circuses when you were young. How sad. I read at one of these rescue places that they have different groups of elephants that are kept together as they for most part were in captivity together. Was that this place? Now I’ll go look at the videos!
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Yep that’s this place. Elephants form bonds like humans do and they have same lifespan. We saw a few different families who were rescued together and definitely remain a unit in the camp.
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And you’re real sweet, mom
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I love the videos. Post them all. What were you giving the elephant? Did he/she ever spray or splash the water on you? I suppose they choose very carefully the ones that can interact with people. Good for them for doing this. Is it funded by entry fees only or private donations too?
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I’ll post them all (I’ll prob just edit same post & add them). Never sprayed as yes they carefully select ones included in feeding & bathing activities. For the mud play, our guide took us up to higher vantage point for better view but also to stay away from the babies as there were whole families out there playing together. Funded by both private donations and entry fees.
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My favorite picture is the closeup of the mahout & elephant. Wow. Frameable. If that’s a word.
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Love this post! Can’t wait to show boys tomorrow. I’m excited to watch the videos with them! Hopefully Haydy will get to see you eaten by an elephant! 😉
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Lemme know their thoughts. Also, just posted another 4 videos.
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They liked them. Really like the ones they could see you in. Rog wondered why you weren’t in your swimming suit and why they liked the mud. Hayden wondered why you were feeding them. Thanks for videos.
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Should’ve taken more w me I guess. I thought they’d love the mud and babies. Didn’t wear my suit but I brought a change of clothes in case I got drenched. They like the kid bc they’re playful and it’s cool and gets the bugs off of them. Hayden is a goofball but I was feeding them, primarily watermelon (seemed they enjoyed that better than cantaloupe) bc they eat a boatload every day.
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The kids will love all of them.
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This is fascinating, Angie! Thanks for letting me read your blog.
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Thanks for sharing all those videos – they are truly incredible. I love that you were able to get so close to those beautiful animals. I almost felt like I was there. From your videos they seem so gentle and calm. It brought a tear to my eye so I can imagine it was pretty moving being there in person. What a cool experience for you guys. Keep it all coming – your blog is great. You are giving all of us a chance to experience this trip along with you through your eyes which is really special.
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Thx J. Love ya. That day truly was special. They are very gentle & call indeed. The first time I touched ones trunk (the video in which I fed them watermelon), I was the one who was nervous & skittish bc they’re so big & you’re not quite sure how they’re going to react. But their gentle nature kinda puts you at ease. They’re pretty funny. You give them a chunk of watermelon, they eat it, & then their trunks comes exploring your hand & body again for the next piece. It was pretty sweet. That was elephant no 1. Prob did the same w 4 others and my comfort level increased a bunch as day went on… Was comfortably caressing trunk a lot and sides of elephant. They seem like really smart animals… Supposedly are so. That catch, and fact they bond so deeply like humans, makes their plight that much sadder. But they seemed so happy at this park.
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Such a neat experience! Was the end of their nose (that came exploring you for more food) wet? Like a dog nose? Ive always wondered that.
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I loved this post – while it made me sad it sounded like you and Ams had a great experience. How cool to be so close to the elephants!!! It would have been hard for me to leave.
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