Visiting the elephants 🐘

🐘 Heartwarming Elephant Sanctuary: The highlight of our stay was a visit to an “ethical” Elephant Sanctuary. Gone are the days where you can ride on elephants everywhere, mostly due to a change in tourist education about the impact it has on these gentle giants. So now you almost every elephant center is called “ rescue or sanctuary” even if it is just for name, still having them in chains.
A question arises: Is it even possible to have an “ ethical” elephant experience? Most ethical it would undoubtably be to just let these wild animals live in peace with no tourist interaction, especially if they have already had their share of suffering by humans. However, fueled by the desire to still see some elephants Charly did a lot of research to find one that is as ethical as possible. Ideally one that has a hands off policy - no touching, no feeding, no helping with bathing - things that are still widely done but force the elephants to perform and are done with tourists in mind not elephant needs.

The Elephant Nature Park we chose is one of the oldest established sanctuaries in 2003 and is internationally recognized. It’s home to over 100 elephants, mostly female and over 60. They also have two bulls but they are kept separately in smaller enclosures because they are very aggressive by nature. They also have some baby elephants that were rescued from captivity. Witnessing the rescued elephants in a safe haven after years of mistreatment was amazing . It was really sad to hear about the abuse the different animals have endured from illegal logging, forced breeding, riding, circus tricks and farm work. The only thing we felt was a bit performative was that in the afternoon we watched the elephants bathe in the river which they don’t have access too the whole day - so it seemed a bit organised for tourist entertainment. Another highlight was the fully vegan lunch buffet. The nature park also has rescued horses, water buffaloes, donkeys and many cats and dogs and are supported by volunteers. Overall an unforgettable experience contributing to the well-being of these majestic creatures.Read more