Established in 1995, Elephant Nature Park is home to over two dozen rescued elephants. Ranging in age from infants to old-timers, these previously abused and neglected creatures are able to live out the rest of their lives in peace and dignity on the park's grounds.
Nestled in the breathtaking Mae Taeng Valley, about an hour north of Chiang Mai, Elephant Nature Park is a place where the elephants no longer work for humans. Instead, a team of full-time staff and park volunteers maintain the park and care for the elephants.

A unique experience for any visitor to Southeast Asia, Elephant Nature Park allows people to see elephants as elephants should be seen: living their lives peacefully, frolicking when the moment strikes them, and trumpeting to one another throughout the day and night.

Elephant Nature Park allows its rescued elephants to live the life of an elephant. No longer do they have to paint pictures with their trunks, play the drums, or perform demeaning circus tricks. They are not made to carry heavy benches on their backs, which can deform and even break an elephant's spine. They are no longer forced into submission with cruel implements such as "the hook" and they are not chained during the day.

At Elephant Nature Park, elephants are allowed to roam unfettered, eating and playing as much as they like along the way. They can wander down to the river for a bit of a splash or a roll in the mud whenever they need to cool down. They are free to choose their own family group, usually centering around one of the several baby elephants who live at the park. And they can have as much or as little human interaction as they choose.

If you are interested in an unforgettable and moving elephant experience, if you would rather walk beside an elephant than ride on top of one, then Elephant Nature Park is the ideal place to visit.

Elephant Nature Park offers the visitor a different kind of experience with the Asian elephant. Instead of watching elephants perform circus tricks or riding on their backs, visitors will see the park's elephants grazing, playing, and communicating as they might in the wild. And as a non-profit organization, the cost of every visit to Elephant Nature Park directly supports the elephants and makes our work possible.

Walk next to the gentle giants on your way down to the river, look into their eyes as you bathe them, feel the strength of their trunk when you hand them a bunch of bananas, watch them as they scratch their bodies on trees and when they flip their ears and flick their tails, see how they carefully caress their young... at Elephant Nature Park you'll quickly see why these majestic creatures are so special.

A  visit to Elephant Nature Park  is a wonderful introduction to the Asian elephant.


Day visit: 7.30 a.m - 5 p.m.  Price: 2,500 Baht (incl. transfers from/to your hotel)
2 days / 1 night:  Price: 5,700 Baht
3 days / 2 nights: Price: 7,100 Baht

Rest assured that day visitors are welcome to come back again and, if you like, there's always the option to stay the night as well (depending on availability) or you even can join the team for 1, 2 or 4 weeks as a  volunteer.

Elephant Haven is located high on a mountaintop about a 90-minute walk away from Elephant Nature Park in the Mae Tang Valley. As the original location for rescued elephants, it has been maintained since 1992. With over 100 acres of lush vegetation, far from any human encroachment and cultivated farms, Elephant Haven is a safe jungle retreat for the elephants.

Each week (weather permitting) the elephants and volunteers visit Elephant Haven for an overnight stay. Accompanied by an expert guide, volunteers enjoy a campfire atmosphere in a rustic setting while surrounded by elephants in their natural environment. Because of its remote location, the elephants are free to explore the jungle throughout the night. The next morning, the mahouts and volunteers set out to find where each elephant has wandered to in the jungle.

Not only is Elephant Haven a fun experience for visitors, it is also an educational one. The jungle surrounding the Haven is filled with many trees and plants which are natural herbal medicines and are not found in Elephant Nature Park. Collected by the guide and the mahouts with the help of volunteers, these medicines are used to treat any ailments our rescued elephants may develop. Furthermore, by bringing tourists on overnight stays to the jungle, is putting the government land to use and placing an economic value on elephant habitat.

Elephant Haven, leads the way for a different style of trekking: volunteers walk with the elephants during the climb to the haven, rather than sitting on top of them. Volunteers are able to see and hear them as they amble through the jungle, uninhibited by harnesses or wooden chairs. Finally, no chains or hooks are used. Instead, the elephants are guided by their mahouts up to the forested sanctuary with little need for verbal encouragement.

A truly magical place, Elephant Haven offers elephants time to explore the jungle and for the volunteers an experience they will never forget.

Jumbo Express is an outreach program which provides emergency medical treatment to elephants working in remote areas and builds ties with rural communities. By providing free medical care to people and elephants, Jumbo Express hopes to gain the trust of local people and use the exchange as an opportunity to discuss human-elephant relationships. Villagers are encouraged to air grievances about human-elephant conflicts and an exchange of information regarding wild and domestic populations take place.

Established in 1995, Jumbo Express has already visited more than 100 Thai communities, hill tribe villages, and refugee camps in the area from the Thailand-Burma border up to the Laos-China border. Aside from community outreach, Jumbo Express aims to raise the standard of living for domestic elephants working without access to proper treatment. Some elephants are isolated by physical geography and some simply by neglect.

Medical students, doctors, and veterinarians interested in assisting Jumbo Express on a short- or long-term basis should  contact  the Elephant Nature Foundation to see how they can help.

Saving the elephant and the natural environment it depends on is a major undertaking.

Content & Pictures copyright by elephantnaturefoundation.org.

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