Elephants are the most fascinating land creatures on this planet. You can experience the pachyderms with their tusks up close on your Thailand vacation. In many places in Southeast Asia, however, the animals are terribly tortured while tourists ride them or the animals are trained for circus shows. The Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is the first facility on the island where you can observe the animals in the wild and in a natural environment. The facility buys tortured animals and gives them a new home. What distinguishes the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary? I took a closer look at the facility. A field report on a new way of observing elephants on vacation.

On the popular holiday island Phuket (travel report) dozens of elephants live. Most of the animals are in captivity and are trained so that visitors can ride on them or to show the giant animals in circus-like shows. In Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia, elephants are used in the tourism industry. In order to keep the animals compliant for this type of entertainment, the elephants are often severely abused and kept in the most adverse conditions to break their will.

A tragedy for the perceptive, intelligent animals brought up by vacationers Phuket that book this form of attraction. The locals are also not particularly sensitive to the concerns of elephants. They recommend the zoos and elephant safaris without reservations. But awareness of environmental protection and animal welfare is slowly emerging. For some time now there has been an elephant rescue station on Phuket: the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary.

This is Phuket's first ethical facility in which elephants receive medical care, can roam and bathe freely in the forest. The animals can move freely in a huge area, play in the jungle, chop bamboo or swim in a lake or river to their heart's content. The complex is located in the northeast of Phuket in the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park. All of the elephants that are in the facility have been rescued from zoos and other facilities and are being nursed back there.

In the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, the animals should be able to live a dignified life. The sanctuary - the place of refuge - is open to visitors and financed by the entrance fees. Vacationers can see the elephants up close, feed the animals, or even volunteer at volunteer days. Is this the rescue for battered elephants in Phuket? I spent a day looking around the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary.

Video – Phuket Elephant Sanctuary Experiences

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Elephants in Thailand – the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary rescues elephants

A quick overview

• first sustainable elephant rescue station in Phuket
• built along the lines of the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai
• Purchase of injured and sick elephants from zoos and other tourist offers
• intensive medical care for the animals
• the animals live in a 12 hectare reserve in the wild with jungle and water points
• there is a wealth of information for visitors, guided tours of the animals, feeding the elephants - and finally feeding the visitors in the form of a rich, vegetarian buffet

Elephants on Phuket – my experiences at the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

During my stay in Thailand and especially on Phuket, I wanted to come into contact with as many local animal species as possible. So I went snorkeling with sharks in Thailand, saw manta rays, saw wild monkeys up close and also wanted to see elephants.

Because I knew that the animals are often treated badly, I did some research and came across the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary. So I drove my scooter to the Sanctuary office and thought that it was some kind of enclosure where you could visit the animals.

But completely wrong: There are only two tours to the elephants per day and each lasts just under four hours. And the price is also considerable at first glance: entry costs 92 euros per person. I later find out that the price is definitely justified. The operating costs for the sanctuary are enormous. The facility also uses the entrance fees to buy additional sick animals from the zoos in order to rehabilitate them.

The sanctuary office is on the main road - from there you can take a ten-minute pickup truck to the national park where the elephant area is located. During the entire day at the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, I couldn't shake the impression that the facility reminded me a little of Jurassic Park - only with elephants instead of dinosaurs. In any case, I have the pleasant, tingly feeling of being in the middle of a real one Adventures to have landed.

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Process in the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

When I arrived at the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, most visitors had already made themselves comfortable in the open conference room - the Tree Top Lounge - with coffee, fruit and cookies. Each visitor is provided with a parasol and rubber boots to become suitable for off-road use. At the beginning of the program there is a short presentation that shows holidaymakers how cruelly the elephants are kept in zoos and on safaris.

Some of the animals have to endure great suffering. Guests also learn a lot of useful information about the pachyderms. Or did you know that elephant cows are pregnant for two years?

On a two-hour, sweaty tour you get really close to the elephants. In small groups of a maximum of eight people, you walk across the site with the guide and visit the current ten elephants. Some are in enclosures. These are the animals that need medical care. Other elephants get a bath in the therapy pool.

Most elephants move freely around the site. The pachyderms are usually quite busy and are in the forest, picking apart the bushes or strolling across the spacious grassy areas. The free-roaming animals are also bathed regularly. On the tour you will not only learn a lot of useful information, but you will also be able to meet the elephants up close.

Impressions from the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

Phuket Elephant Sanctuary: prices, directions, things to know

The Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is very different from traditional tourist offers with wildlife and one of the best holiday tips for Phuket. Everyone who is really interested in elephants is spot on here. I have therefore put together the most important information about the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary for you about prices, program and how to get there / transfers.

Program times

• A morning with the elephants: 09.30am to 13.00pm
• An afternoon with the elephants: 13.30pm to 17pm

Preise pro Person

Program with presentation, guided tour and buffet

• Half day: 3000 baht (89 euros)
• Half day with transfer: 3500 baht (104 euros)
• Full day with transfer: 6500 baht (193 euros)

Volunteer program with accommodation and meals

• Help one day: 4500 baht (134 euros)
• Help for three days: 9000 baht (267 euros)
• Help for six days: 18000 baht (535 euros)

(All prices rounded to the Euro-Baht exchange rate of January 20, 2020)

Contact and booking

Phuket Elephant Sanctuary
100 Moo 2, Paklok, Thalang, Phuket
Telephone in English: +66 62 767 7111
info@phuketpes.org
phuketelephantsanctuary.org

You should definitely have this with you

• Copy of the passport for insurance purposes
• a hat
• suntan lotion
• sturdy shoes
• cozy clothes that can get a little dirty

All statements are without guarantee.

Directions and transfers

Getting to the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is very easy: whether you are coming from the south or coming from the airport, you first drive on road 402 and then you have to take road 4027. Basically, there is not much you can do wrong and you will reach the office easily. There is sufficient parking space for cars and scooters. In the office you also pay admission. From the Sanctuary office, you will be taken to the reserve on a ten-minute drive with a shuttle. A collective transfer can be booked from the major holiday locations.

Elephants on Phuket – a rethinking towards animal protection and environmental protection is slowly taking place in Thailand

Dealing with the environment and the environment is slowly changing Wildlife in Thailand, At least I think I can see certain tendencies in this direction. You can still get a plastic bag and a straw for every small coke can in the supermarket. But a rethink seems to be happening anyway: The Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is a good example of this, which I hope will be a school. The very existence of this facility has made it clear to many people how badly the elephants are doing in zoos and tourist attractions.

At the same time are destroyed by tourism beaches blocked for years to give animals and plants a chance to relax. There are now signs on many shops that indicate that plastic products are not used. The efforts are certainly far too little, but at least a start in the right direction seems to have been made. To drive change further, more and more of the millions of tourists each year should critically question the leisure activities and use sustainable, ethically justifiable forms of entertainment such as the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary.

Elephants on Phuket – Is the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary the last resort for mistreated pachyderms?

My detailed conclusion

After a visit to the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, I am very enthusiastic: I have never spent so much time with elephants and have been able to observe them up close. In addition, as a visitor, it makes you feel good that you have done something to protect the largest land mammal on our planet. In Asia Only a few thousand elephants are still alive - some in the wild, many in adverse conditions in zoos.

The intelligent and social animals deserve protection. Certainly one isolated project like the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary cannot save the world of elephants. However, considering that this place was created as an inspiration from elephant rescuer Sangduen "Lek" Chailert and her now world-famous Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, it is only a matter of time before more offshoots emerge and the elephants in Southeast Asia are gradually getting the protection they deserve.

Have you ever been to a sustainable and ethical elephant reserve in Asia? Share your experience in the comments.