Full Day Elephant Sanctuary & Pad Thai Cooking Experience

The full day program at Living Green is the one to pick if you want time with the elephants rather than a quick visit. It runs about nine to ten hours door to door and fills the afternoon with things that actually help the herd: making herbal medicine balls and planting seedlings for elephant food. Living Green says it never offers rides or shows, that all activities are based on animal welfare and that the elephants are never forced. River bathing depends on the weather and on whether the elephants want to go in.

Pickup is between 08:00 and 08:30, followed by about an hour and a half through the countryside. After a briefing you change into traditional northern clothing and spend a little over an hour meeting and feeding the elephants and walking with them in the forest while the guides explain their behaviour. At midday you cook your own vegetarian pad thai in the workshop and eat it for lunch. In the afternoon you make herbal medicine balls for the elephants, then plant seedlings that will become their food. The day ends with a walk to the river to bathe the elephants, if the weather and the elephants allow, before you change and head back to Chiang Mai, arriving around 17:00.

Transfers, an English speaking guide, the cooking workshop and lunch, drinking water, elephant food, insurance and a free photography service are included. Bring swimwear, a towel and a change of clothes, plus sunscreen and insect repellent.