Ethical Elephant Sanctuary Half Day (Morning or Afternoon)

This is a small elephant sanctuary in the Mae Taeng valley, about an hour and a half north of Chiang Mai. There is no riding, and the sanctuary says it uses no chains or hooks because the herd is free to roam. You spend your time with the elephants the way their keepers do: preparing their food, feeding them, watching them roam, and joining them at the mud spa and in the river. The half day is the simplest way to visit: the elephants and a Thai meal, with the rest of the day free. Choose the morning start (hotel pickup 08:00 to 08:30) or the afternoon start. It suits first time visitors, families and anyone who does not want the trek or the rafting of the full day programs.

After the drive out through farmland you change into a mahout style shirt and get a short introduction to the herd and the herbal food balls the keepers make for them. You cut sugar cane, prepare a batch of the vitamin balls yourself and hand them over, then watch the elephants roam and forage. Later they head for the mud spa, which protects their skin from insects, and then to the river, and you go in with them to wash them. A Thai meal rounds off the visit before the drive back.

The whole trip takes about six hours door to door, with roughly an hour and a half of driving each way. There is no walking beyond the sanctuary grounds, so it works for most fitness levels. Bring a full change of clothes and something to put wet things in.