Elephant sanctuary

Both slept really well.
Roti pancakes and coconut for breakfast, similar prices to last place.
In the morning there is lots of shade on the beach so we had a quick dip and then Anna lay in the shade and I lay in the sun which didn't feel too hot once wet.
Then we got ready for our pick up to the Hidden Forest Elephant Sanctuary (£75 each) which is one of the few ethical places we found that doesn't include bathing with them which we've learnt isn't natural for the elephants.
After quite a long journey (traffic is slow in Phuket) we had a briefing and video and then went to feed the 8 rescued female elephants (males are uncontrollable!). You handed them a bunch of bananas and they took it with their trunks and gobbled it down in one go before asking for more.
Then we wandered up the hill stopping at 5 diff bamboo huts to see the elephants. They are walked daily to aid with their digestion. The first stop, they walked past us in a line coming super close and one trumpeted at us. They are paired with a mahout who leads them via sugar cane treats. Then we watched them feed - whole banana trees they broke up and crunched, and one asked for water to drink out of a hose.
The last stop was a vegan Thai buffet which was amazing and overlooked 2 ponds which some of the elephants chose to bathe on whilst the others wandered around munching away (they eat about 200kg a day!) absolutely magical experience. Anna hit the gift shop of course and then we headed home, which took ages as traffic through Patong at sunset was super slow but the sunset was amazing!
Back in our room, we didn't need any dinner however a pipe in the bathroom had snapped - unclear what this was for but was dripping water. The receptionist fixed it with some tape and sprayed the floor clean with the bidet hose so we went out for a wander to let it dry out.
However it snapped again about midnight waking us both up with the dripping. Neither of us slept well and both pretty annoyed. Had we not been on a tour the next day we would have moved hotels.Read more