A Morning with the Elephants at Phuket Elephant Sanctuary
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From $92.04
279 reviews (4.91)
Price varies by group size
Lowest Price GuaranteePricing Info: Per Person
Duration: 3 hours
Departs: Phuket, Phuket
Ticket Type: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Free cancellation
Overview
Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is the first and only ethical elephant sanctuary in Phuket where elephants roam around, bathe and sozialize freely across 30 acres of lush, tropical land bordering the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park in North East Phuket. We buy all rescued elephants to ensure that Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is their final home, and we offer professional veterinary care for old and injured elephants. By visiting us, you are supporting a sustainable, ethical and compassionate approach to elephant tourism where elephants have the freedom to live naturally. National Geographic, Lonely Planet and The Guardian have all endorsed our ethical approach.
What's Included
A delicious Thai vegetarian lunch buffet with over 15 choices.
Air-conditioned vehicle
Boots, Socks, Umbrellas, Rain Coats, Mosquito Spray
We provide bottled water but appreciate if you bring a refill bottle.
Welcome Snacks, Coffee, Fruits, Juices & Filtered Water
What's Not Included
Roundtrip Transfers - If option is not selected
Traveler Information
- INFANT: Age: 0 - 4
- CHILD: Age: 5 - 11
- ADULT: Age: 12 - 120
Additional Info
- Face masks required for travellers in public areas
- Guides required to regularly wash hands
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Regular temperature checks for staff
- Social distancing enforced throughout experience
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Transportation vehicles regularly sanitised
- With 30 acres of jungle and a limited number of visitors per guide, "physical distancing" comes natural at Phuket Elephant Sanctuary. Nonetheless we have implemented several safety initiatives and have been awarded the Safety & Health Administration Certi
- Face masks required for guides in public areas
- Gear/equipment sanitised between use
- Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
- Paid stay-at-home policy for staff with symptoms
- Regularly sanitised high-traffic areas
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Temperature checks for travellers upon arrival
- Wheelchair accessible
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
- If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
What To Expect
A morning with the elephants is an eye-opening and inspiring experience. Following a scenic drive along a local village you will arrive at Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, a picturesque jungle dotted with ponds, wide open fields and hillsides for the elephants to roam around.
Your visit starts at our Tree Top Lounge, where we will show you a presentation and educational video to prepare you for your encounter with the elephants, and to help you understand why they need to be protected.
Next up, the elephants are fed. While they enjoy their baskets of bananas, pineapples and cucumbers, you have a chance to learn from our guides about the background of each elephant.
Once the elephants are fed, we follow them down into the jungle. By keeping a safe distance and watching them from our Observation Salas, the elephants have the freedom to express their natural behavior, from bathing and playing in our pond to socializing with each other.
The program ends with a delicious Thai vegetarian meal.
Your visit starts at our Tree Top Lounge, where we will show you a presentation and educational video to prepare you for your encounter with the elephants, and to help you understand why they need to be protected.
Next up, the elephants are fed. While they enjoy their baskets of bananas, pineapples and cucumbers, you have a chance to learn from our guides about the background of each elephant.
Once the elephants are fed, we follow them down into the jungle. By keeping a safe distance and watching them from our Observation Salas, the elephants have the freedom to express their natural behavior, from bathing and playing in our pond to socializing with each other.
The program ends with a delicious Thai vegetarian meal.
3 hours • Admission Ticket Included
Reviews
A great experience...
Melbtraveller06, 23-09-2022
What a fantastic morning. After a bit of research I believe this is the most ethical elephant-related activity in Phuket and I wasn't disappointed.
We got to feed the elephants and wander the sanctuary with our informative and enthusiastic guide.
If the world were perfect there would be no need for an elephant rescue sanctuary, but that's not the world we live in. It's great that effort is put into giving these animals greater freedom.
We got to feed the elephants and wander the sanctuary with our informative and enthusiastic guide.
If the world were perfect there would be no need for an elephant rescue sanctuary, but that's not the world we live in. It's great that effort is put into giving these animals greater freedom.
Fantastic tour and all for a great initiative.
ian p, 22-09-2022
Wow, what an amazing experience we had. These beautiful elephants rescued from a terrible previous lifestyle in the logging and tourist industries.
All the money paid for the experience goes back to rescuing and keeping the elephants.
All the tour guides and handlers are volunteers
and really care for these magnificent animals.
Included in this tour is a good selection of food and drinks.
If you care about animals especially elephants make sure you pop in and experience this wonderful tour.
You won't regret it. Its money well spent and a great cause.
All the money paid for the experience goes back to rescuing and keeping the elephants.
All the tour guides and handlers are volunteers
and really care for these magnificent animals.
Included in this tour is a good selection of food and drinks.
If you care about animals especially elephants make sure you pop in and experience this wonderful tour.
You won't regret it. Its money well spent and a great cause.
Amazing experience with elephants
C5081VVjamiew, 30-09-2022
Everything was so much fun had a awesome time bathing and feeding the elephants, Gino was awesome and told us so much information about the elephants, food was amazing and had so much fun in the rain 10/10 for these guys
An enjoyable ethical elexperiwnce
767maddib, 23-09-2022
Wonderful experience. Picked up from our resort which took away all the stress. Enjoyable and informative. Delicious vegetarian food. Although it is sad that the elephants have to end up here it is nice to know our tourism dollars are supporting a less demanding experience. The elephants seem happy a land relatively free certainty we’ll cared for. Recommend for nature and animal lovers
Family day out
Martin H, 29-09-2022
Fantastic experience at the park well worth the visit child friendly great staff very grateful to them for their time☺️
Fantastic experience
StephenM3980, 23-12-2022
What a fantastic experience- all so friendly and informative. Well worth a visit. Excellent value for money.
A Relaxed Elephant is a Happy Elephant!
844laurih, 22-12-2022
Amazing to be up close and personal with such magnificent beasts. Loved watching them enjoy their freedom. Sad to hear how many have been treated in the past.
Definitely worth the money
kylamaclachlan, 21-12-2022
This was an awesome way to spend our last morning in Phuket. The pick up from the hotel was on time. So nice to hear of the great work the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is doing for this older and injured elephants. Our guide was very informative and funny. The lunch and snacks provided was great and much appreciated. This tour is definitely worth the only and it's nice to know that your money is going towards some amazing work for these elephants.
Great ethical elephant experience
ahcp21, 19-12-2022
We spent a lot of time researching so-called elephant sanctuaries until we found Phuket Elephant Sanctuary and the research paid off.
It was wonderful being able to feed and stroke the elephants and heartbreaking to hear about their lives prior to coming to the sanctuary.
On leaving the sanctuary we went to Big Buddha and saw a baby elephant being hit and prodded to put its trunk up for a picture with a tourist and further up the hill the elephants were being ridden by ignorant tourists. Please, please don’t contribute to any elephant tourism that involves riding or bathing with the elephants - this isn’t natural and they have to go through a lot of abuse in order for them to be okay to do this. In the same breath, please don’t visit the drugged up tigers/snakes or the monkeys that have been abused to train them to do funny tricks for tourists. We can all enjoy seeing exotic animals without making them suffer for our entertainment.
The canopy walkway is a great way to see the elephants going about their business without being disturbed too much but we were also able to walk on ground level to see the elephants meandering about the forest.
My only negative would be that we were shown an introductory video that had, say 3 or 4 really important things to take note of (such as not turning your back on any of the elephants etc.). One of the things we were told on the video is that sun cream and other lotions can be toxic to the elephants so it was really important to wash your hands prior to feeding them. The video ended and we were taken straight to the area for feeding the elephants with no pause to remind everyone to wash their hands as we passed the sinks/toilets. When we got to the feeding area, I asked about the hand washing and was either not heard or ignored - my partner and I left the group to go and wash our hands but it was disappointing that this was made out to be an important thing to do in the welcome video but then not enforced by the guide.
Save for that, it was an absolutely wonderful morning and is probably the only elephant sanctuary I would recommend in the Phuket area. They provide socks and welly boots so no need to worry about footwear and they also provide a delicious lunch - they also provide transfers depending on where you are. It is more expensive than other elephant experiences but the cheaper experiences do not care for the elephants as well as here hence the more expensive price. Would absolutely recommend Phuket Elephant Sanctuary!
It was wonderful being able to feed and stroke the elephants and heartbreaking to hear about their lives prior to coming to the sanctuary.
On leaving the sanctuary we went to Big Buddha and saw a baby elephant being hit and prodded to put its trunk up for a picture with a tourist and further up the hill the elephants were being ridden by ignorant tourists. Please, please don’t contribute to any elephant tourism that involves riding or bathing with the elephants - this isn’t natural and they have to go through a lot of abuse in order for them to be okay to do this. In the same breath, please don’t visit the drugged up tigers/snakes or the monkeys that have been abused to train them to do funny tricks for tourists. We can all enjoy seeing exotic animals without making them suffer for our entertainment.
The canopy walkway is a great way to see the elephants going about their business without being disturbed too much but we were also able to walk on ground level to see the elephants meandering about the forest.
My only negative would be that we were shown an introductory video that had, say 3 or 4 really important things to take note of (such as not turning your back on any of the elephants etc.). One of the things we were told on the video is that sun cream and other lotions can be toxic to the elephants so it was really important to wash your hands prior to feeding them. The video ended and we were taken straight to the area for feeding the elephants with no pause to remind everyone to wash their hands as we passed the sinks/toilets. When we got to the feeding area, I asked about the hand washing and was either not heard or ignored - my partner and I left the group to go and wash our hands but it was disappointing that this was made out to be an important thing to do in the welcome video but then not enforced by the guide.
Save for that, it was an absolutely wonderful morning and is probably the only elephant sanctuary I would recommend in the Phuket area. They provide socks and welly boots so no need to worry about footwear and they also provide a delicious lunch - they also provide transfers depending on where you are. It is more expensive than other elephant experiences but the cheaper experiences do not care for the elephants as well as here hence the more expensive price. Would absolutely recommend Phuket Elephant Sanctuary!
Don’t miss it, don’t spend your money on animal shows
Ian F, 19-12-2022
Beautiful morning wandering around seeing happy elephants hanging out the way nature basically intended. Great experience. Don’t miss it.
The only way to see elephants!
268wendyo, 11-01-2023
We loved everything about this tour - the informative video explaining their mission, the lunch, the guided tour which enables you to feed and walk among the elephants, and the gift shop! If you want to see elephants while in Phuket - this is the tour to do!!
Exceptional Elephant Experience
mariii22, 08-01-2023
Highly recommend this tour to anyone!!! You get super close to the elephants and some staff take constantly photos with you can access later for free via Facebook. During your time there it gets obvious that the animals are the center not the tourists, which is great! The service including the lunch afterwards was excellent.
Highly recommend
SeasideLvr1121, 08-01-2023
The Phuket elephant sanctuary was amazing and worth every Baht. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and there is no harm done to the elephants. The vegetarian buffet is a nice way to finish off the tour
An amazing experience!
Vanja S, 06-01-2023
We were at the morning visit with the elephants this week and it was amazing! It is one of the highlights of our travel to Thailand. It was enlightening and touching to listen about the life the elephants had, and the life they have now in the park. It was a big experience to walk around with these majestic animals and greet them in their surroundings. Our guide was friendly and had a lot of knowledge about every elephant and elephants in general. ❤️ I will highly recommend to visit the sanctuary.
Very informative...
Terry_D, 12-01-2023
Very informative regarding elephants and some of their abuse while in the tourist business. Able to get up close.
