Whether you want to cuddle, kiss or just bathe in some poo with these amazing animals, visiting an elephant sanctuary is the best way to do it.
This and the Phi Phi Island tour were the only big excursions we wanted to do while in Thailand, so we booked this online as soon as we arrived.
The Elephants
At the sanctuary were six beautiful elephants; Filo (mmm pastry), Natalie, Diamond, Boa, Choo and Sofar.
I’d seen elephants in a zoo before but never up close and personal where I could touch them and feed them, they really are the most amazing and gentle animals.
These elephants had all come from riding and logging camps. We were taught more about the history behind their horrific ordeals before we chopped up a series of sugar canes, bananas and watermelons to feed them with.
When we fed the elephants we could either say their name or “bon” which is elephant for open your gob. But even if you didn’t say bon the elephant would find the food its strong and rather hilarious trunk anyway. The youngest elephant was still exploring the world with its trunk and it sniffed EVERYTHING, a lot like how a baby will put everything in its mouth.
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- Smell our delicious armpits
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- I think we were meant to be listening to something
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- Choo almost gave as good cuddles as me
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- Get my good side
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- Squishy little heffer
Feeding and Bathing the elephants
As we were feeding the elephants, the youngest one who had only just woken up, just stood there nibbling her sister’s ear. The eldest, Filo, 60, ate away from Choo the four year old naughty boy elephant because she’s not a fan of childish boys… I hear ya Filo, I hear ya.
Once the elephants were fed we bathed them in the large mud spa that felt like a big pool of squishy poo. I had a feeling that it probably was. The elephant’s playful spirit was so much fun, they splashed and fell over in the mud waving their legs wildly; we were told beforehand to stand behind them if they fall over otherwise you’ll be kicked to the other end of the sanctuary.
We walked the elephants over to the clean water pool (where we had seen one do a massive poo just an hour before) and washed away all of the mud. Again, so much fun, water squirted everywhere and Suz and I tried hard to keep away from the section where we’d seen the elephant drop its load…
Ping Pong Stories
It pissed it down for the entire day, I’m talking biblical rain. As we enjoyed our lunch it started to thunder loudly, but this only added to the total awesomeness of the day. Sat opposite us during lunch was an Australian couple who told us all about the ping pong show they had seen the night before.
‘They used balls, budgies, hamsters, terrapins and they thrusted out darts to pop balloons.’ The woman told us. It was free to enter (the show, not the woman’s vagina) but the drinks were 1200 baht/£27 each and you had to buy at least one. Apparently at one point the hamster escaped out of the performer’s vagina and tried to make a run for it but she grabbed it and shoved it back in. We had been thinking of seeing a ping pong show but we decided that if they’re going to misuse animals in that way then we weren’t going anywhere near it! You can misuse people but not animals thank you very much.
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- Rub me with mud stupid hoomans
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- Natalie and I in a totes amazing selfie
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- I can hear it digesting the bananas
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- Couple of wet babes
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- The elephant liked Suz’s Game of thrones t-shirt
Home Time
The tuk tuk ride home was the most frightening of all journeys, due to the heavy rain the large muddy hill at the entrance of the sanctuary was even muddier and more slippery. We struggled to get a good grip going up the hill and then we just slid down the hill using the breaks, absolutely terrifying.
Please Read!
If you’re in Phuket and want to see some elephants then I definitely recommend going to this sanctuary, DO NOT RIDE THEM, also DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN RIDE THEM, and lastly DON’T TAKE PART IN ANY TOURIST ATTRACTION THAT MISTREATS AND ABUSES ANIMALS, e.g. Tiger shows, Monkey shows, Hamster ping pong shows etc.
Thailand is an amazing country and the people can be lovely but they use their animals for tourism A LOT and the less we (the tourists) buy into that, the less they will do it.
Website: http://www.elephantjunglesanctuary.com/
Cost: 2,500 baht pp
Rating: 8/10
Check out our video diary from the entire Thailand trip here:
Check Out the Other Thailand Blogs:
- Top 5 Things to do in Phuket
- The crazy Bangla Road, Patong
- Phi Phi Island Tour
- Big Buddha & Kathu Waterfall
- Going to a Thai Boy Show