Elephant Nature Park Experience | CHIANG MAI, Thailand
When visiting Chiang Mai, Thailand or Thailand in general, one of the most popular activities is visiting an elephant park to get up close with the beautiful creatures. However there are a lot of experiences that many so-called "sanctuaries" offer which are far from ethical.
Thankfully experiences like elephant riding have been largely phased out due to tourists learning and understanding the cruel practices involved with training elephants to allow rides but also the health damages it can cause elephants too. However there are other activities which have become very popular but are also very unethical still, like bathing with the elephants which many "sanctuaries" offer.
When we were looking for an elephant sanctuary to visit, we wanted to try find a company with a good reputation and doesn't offer these activities. Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai came up tops in many reviews so we went with them. They opened in the 1990s by founder Lek Chailert who is widely known for her conservation work with elephants. In this vlog we share our experience for the single day visit.
We are not sponsored and just wanted to share our day with others who might be considering any elephant sanctuaries too. We purchased our tickets direct from the office while in Chiang Mai.
#chiangmai #thailand #elephantnaturepark
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VLOG DATE: 15 March 2023
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Пікірлер: 146
I "adopted" "Faa Mai", one of the elephants, about 13 years ago for my niece. I pay a yearly sum to "sponsor" her and help with her expenses. It is something that can do to support.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
That's money going to a great cause ❤️🐘
I love how you guys are ethical travellers and support ethical organisations! ❤ Keep up sharing your amazing adventures 😊
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Got to be these days. Was horrified to find out this monk tiger sanctuary we visited many many years ago were actually turning the tigers into medicine 😢
@darylmckay
Жыл бұрын
@@PeterandYen that's horrific 😢
Thanks for letting us know about the treatment of the elephants in Thailand. I hope more people will treat the elephants with the love and care of those people at that park. It was a beautiful place to be 🙂
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
That's the hope 😊🙏 protect these beautiful animals for future generations to see
Good day both, it is so good that you are always mindful of our actions, paying the NZD for the elephants experience of having a good habitat🙏🏻. It is so good to see the elephants with so much space to their own especially the shallow river for them to bath and play. A great breakfast vlog seeing big boys and girls eating 🍉🍌🥬and wagging their tails. Have a great week and thank you both😀
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
😁 so true! Even though we did this experience already I love rewatching this one because seeing the elephants just doing their thing fills me with so much calm and happiness 🐘❤️
I so envy you this experience; I doubt I will ever be able to go to ENP, though it is one of my dreams to spend a week there helping as best as a senior lade can do, and perhaps even meeting Lek, Darrick, Kham Lah and Faa Mai (and maybe Pyi Mai and Chaba!) Thank you for supporting and broadcasting ENP and the wonderful work they do for our planet and all beings.
@PeterandYen
11 ай бұрын
Thanks for watching. Hope you do get the chance to visit and stay at the nature park. It's a wonderful place ❤️
I been wanting to go to this park for years. They have a KZread channel. The founder Lek Chailert is amazing.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
It's an amazing place, felt so much peace and happiness when we were there. Especially knowing the elephants can live a happier life until their old age.
Excellent video, guys ! Very informative and enjoyable to watch. Well done.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thanks ✌️ 😊 was really fun to make this
Elephants so cute..😍😍. But so sad for those 3 friendly ones that got injured.🥲🥲 Reckon elephant ride should be BAN!!! It's sooo cruel.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Elephants 🐘 are the best ❤️ wish for them all to live wonderful lives
I enjoyed your video. I donate to ENP but haven’t been yet. It’s on my bucket list. Loved hearing your views. Good choice.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
That's wonderful you donate to ENP ❤️ the elephants are so precious and seem really happy and well looked after. Hope you get the chance to visit one day 🙂🐘
Very cool you guys got to visit the Elephant Nature Park... such amazing creatures... Sad how us humans can mistreat and abuse majestic animals... sometimes I wonder which species is more civilized... Looks like it was a very relaxing day appreciating nature, eating yummy food, and making amazing memories with each other. Thanks for sharing and putting out important info... by the way...Izzy😲😲 Wow wow wow... Safe travels guys!!
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
It was one of the best day outs for sure. Calm pace and wonderful elephants 🐘 ❤️ we both really enjoyed the experience. ...Izzy got it done in spectacular fashion 🫨💪
I love elephants and dogs so this place looks like heaven to me. God Bless all of the humans that are helping these precious souls. Thank you so much. B from Tennessee, USA
Another good job guys👍👍hopefully I will visit the 🐘 park one day, so interest to watch. Thanks for sharing🥰🫶🫶👍
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
You should visit 😊 its a wonderful place especially since you enjoy Chiang mai 😁
I was not expecting the kiwi accents when I opened this video. Just came across the elephant nature park and searched it and here I am. Hello from a fellow kiwi (from Auckland) 😀
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
😁 such a small world right 🇳🇿 Kia Ora from Auckland
awesome vlog! I was in Thailand for 5 weeks and followed your Chiang Mai adventures. Keep up the great work!
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thank you glad you enjoyed the video 😁👍
I've seen several videos on the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, and yours by far, is the best. My husband and I will be travelling to Chiang Mai next year and plan to visit this incredible, ethical park. Keep up the great work and enjoy your travels!
@PeterandYen
10 ай бұрын
Thank you so much for the kind words and hope you and your husband have an amazing time 😊✌️
Great video regarding Elephant visits. I have been living in Chiang Mai for 5 months now and I have added this to my list of “must do’s and places to visit”.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thanks 😊👍 hope you enjoy your visit there
@avs6372
4 ай бұрын
Avoid riding camps ❤
Hey 👋 🎉amazing great video both of you and elephant nature park .
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thanks ✌️ 😊
That looks like a beautiful way to spend a day, or even better a week looking after the elephants 🐘
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
🤔 the week stay does sound pretty tempting!
@rob1971
Жыл бұрын
@@PeterandYen I think you might lose Peter to the elephant sanctuary if you did that lol
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
😂😅
Great video! We are going in June!
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Awesome! Hope you enjoy it 🙂 we just shared a things to know before going to Chiang Mai video, hope it'll come in handy for your travels too 👍
Looks like your visit to the elephant nature park was quite an emotional one . Now I realise how elephants are mistreated in other aspects of interaction with people, so thank you for supporting this nature park 😊
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
It's very sad in the past we've seen baby elephants outside restaurants to bring customers in. Hopefully as time goes by people become more aware we can all push all the business who have elephants to treat these beautiful animals with the proper care they deserve.
@avs6372
4 ай бұрын
Elephant tourism is a tragedy. They are abused . Riding Elephants all that is negative and it's why it doesn't stop. People don't know. ❤
Great video!! I’ll be visiting Chiang Mai in august, can’t wait for more videos from the two of you
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thanks 😊✌️ enjoy your trip it's an awesome city. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.
Def on my bucket list
Wow!! Just wow!! The elephants were so adorable! Such sweet giants! Love those elephants 💖 Thanks Peter & Yen 😎🇹🇭💖✨
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
This was an amazing day often think back to the cute lil elephants playing in the water and the one with all the corn on its back ❤️
I was researching which elephant 🐘 places to go. This video helped me to decide…
Great vid. May go and visit next year.
Very helpful and informative 😢there’s so much we don’t know . Thanks for all the great tips/ info! 😮💨 can’t do the vegetarian food tho 😭
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
😂 thai, Cambodian, Chinese and Indian vegetarian food is really delicious 👌
Thank you, Blessings from Colorado USA.
Elephant Nature Park is the beautiful manifestation of the extraordinary Lek Chailert. She inspired the other sanctuaries. To learn more see the documentary film Love and Bananas features Lek Chailert and Elephant Nature Park.
Once again you draw us in with superb opening clips! Ah yes I am glad you mentioned the ethical part yes that is very important! The entry does seem pretty reasonable considering it includes your transport to the sanctuary and back to your accommodation! Oh my gosh what a sad story about those three elephants and yeah crazy sad! Yeah great great advice and bless you guys for choosing this location and teaching us about it! Are there any hygiene issues eating with the elephants close by? Heck 200 acres for this park is massive! Yeah that would have been an amazing experience and you definitely won't forget it there!
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
The prices for most Elephant experiences are similar. The main encampment where the food is served is fenced off from the elephants so they can't actually enter. But they can stick their trunks in to see what's going on hahaha
This was a great video, it was really informative and kinda sad yet therapeutic at the same time, keep up the amazing work guys.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
😁✌️ thanks glad you enjoyed the video outside of NZ 👍
@RaceCarFriends
Жыл бұрын
@@PeterandYen Lol you're welcome.
I was there last week, i wish i could meet you guys, enjoy your trip and durian!!!!!!!!!P &Y
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
No durian here in Italy unfortunately 😢 hahaha
thank you !!!! is very informative!!!!!
I subscribe to ENP and watch their video daily. This is a different way to see the park. So many people but glad it supports the park. This is heaven on earth for these wonderful creatures. So lucky you got to see up close and personal. Your video was fantastic.
@PeterandYen
5 ай бұрын
Thank you 💛 it's an amazing organisation with how they rescue and look after these beautiful creatures and give them a safe and happy environment to live. Have you visited ENP before? We hope you get the chance to if you haven't been before 🐘
Great videos guys! Happy Easter and have a blast🙂
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Hey dude happy Easter 🐣 😁
Thanks your love.🙏🙏🙏😍🥰♥️🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘👍✌️🤟🤏
That is such a cool experience to get to interact with them in that way
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
💯❤️🐘
Great review of ENP. I found it very good. Not sure if your interested but Lek will be in Auckland and my city of Christchurch in September. Keep up the excellent work and enjoy your travels.❤ 🐘
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the heads up Philip, might not be back in New Zealand then though 😅 glad you enjoyed the vlog
Very beautiful video
@PeterandYen
11 ай бұрын
Thank you 😁👍
Thank you for sharing. Definitely gonna add this into my itinerary.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
😊👍
The waterfall is so beautiful, especially enjoying the unique Moroccan food by the beautiful waterfall. It is really a fun and unforgettable day. Another good video, and thanks for sharing. I'd love to watch it ❤❤👍🫶🥰😍
@PeterandYen
11 ай бұрын
Haha your message ran from the Morocco video to Thailand 🇹🇭 🤣
เห็นแล้วสงสารสัตว์เหล่านี้มากๆ มนุษย์ใจร้ายกับพวกเขามากไม่มีความเมตตาเลย. การกระทำของพวกเขาเป็นการสร้างเวรกรรมให้กับพวก เขาจงรับกรรมสิ่งพวกเขาทำเถิด
@philburns68
9 ай бұрын
❤🐘🙏🙏
Nice video on how Thailand keep these elephants in their natural state.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thanks glad you enjoyed the video 😊✌️
Thank you for showing us the nature park and the sad stories of the elephant. They're definitely in a better place and enjoying their natural habitat now. I hate animal cruelty, one of the reasons I don't go circus ever. The only animal I ever ride on is horse 🐎
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching ❤️ 🐘 🐘 🐘 ❤️
😍🥰♥️😍🥰♥️🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘
Can't help falling in love with the elephants❤🐘
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
They're too cute 😍
It is good to know that there are "ethical" elephant experiences to attend in SE Asia. Great vlog! One thing I noticed is that none of the elephants had tusks.... I need to Google to find out if the elephants in Asia do not have tusks. Thanks for sharing and have fun in Italy!
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
🐘😊 yes unfortunately there were some experiences in the past that we did in Thailand that turned out to be very unethical so we're much more careful about animal interaction activities now 😢
@avs6372
4 ай бұрын
@PeterandYen have you created a list of unethical sanctuaries?
❤❤❤❤
👌👌
I saw sri nuan..
I always want to visit ENP, but flights from here in CA are so expensive, and take a very long time with layovers. If you're from New England, you probably got better flights through UAE.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I had seen a different video of the Nature Park where the visitors bathed the elephants. Perhaps they have changed their policy? Like the down to earth content of your videos and admire you for not having fallen into creating the American style vlogs all about the presenters and the use of useless discriptives of 'Super, cool, amazing' as though their experience no matter where they are, is the only one one to be had. They also generally do not provide information but regurgitate what is already on the internet. Well done.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Hi Christine, no worries glad you enjoyed the video 😊 not sure regarding the other video, but they most definitely do not offer the bathing anymore.
@LCM8992
Жыл бұрын
I was at ENP in 2018, and bathing had already stopped
5:47 She looks like Sri Nuan ❤.
Great video, but seriously, only mankind could do such cruel things for their own benefits
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thank you and yes.. it's very sad but thankfully there are kind good natured people who want to help too
Thank You Fore This Video , I Loved It !! 😊Match Light, Love And Blesses To You Peter And Yen 🌞🍀👌 💫🌈🦣❤💛💖❤💛🦣🌈💫
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Thanks Jenny ✌️ 😊
Hi! Awesome video :) I was wondering when did you go to ENP (what month was it?) Thank you!!
@PeterandYen
5 ай бұрын
Hiya 👋 we were there in Mid March last year 🙂🐘
¡Cómo me gustaría estar allí!.
It's not NZ content but I'm still here lol missed you guys.
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Hahaha hey dude happy Easter
Hi. I checked out their website and it says the afternoon tour is when we can watch the elephants bathe. Is this true? So this doesn't happen in the morning tour? My mom and i are deciding which tour to get - morning or afternoon. Would you be able to suggest? When is it less crowded? Thanks!
I'm sorry if you said it and i missed it, but which tour did you do? We are currently looking at the different tours offered by ENP, and I am not sure which one to pick. Yours looks ideal for a family with kids.
@PeterandYen
5 ай бұрын
Hiya 👋 that's ok! We did the "single day visit" and the price we paid at the time is listed at 1.33 in the video 🙂👍
I want to do this!
Hi, thanks for the video! The place we are staying at offers a trip to the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. What so you think of this one? I have seen articles saying Save the Elephant Foundation is the best one - pls can you tell me what you think?
@PeterandYen
9 ай бұрын
Hiya, Save the Elephant foundation is the non profit organisation that Lek the founder of Elephant Nature Park started 🙂🐘 If Elephant Jungle Sanctuary (or any elephant sanctuary that you're looking into) offers riding on the elephants, bathing with the elephants, or taking mud baths with them, they are not on the ethical side so just something to research and consider 🐘❤️
@avs6372
4 ай бұрын
It is the best. Ethical.
@avs6372
4 ай бұрын
@PeterandYen any interaction is negative ❤
Dis ypu guys half a day or full day ? I'm gonna visit wasn't sure which was a rounded experience
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Hello this activity is like a 3/4 of a day long due to having a more reasonable starting time 😁 I think it was 11am to 430pm roughly
Como se llama el lugar?
Were you able to feed, touch or take pictures with the elephants? Before they would allow this. Was wondering if this to has changed.
@PeterandYen
11 ай бұрын
No feeding or touching the elephants at least in the tour we joined but photos were allowed with the elephants that the guides know are friendly and calm enough to take some next to with.
I’ve watched non the elephant keeper on TikTok, he works there, don’t they allow any interaction at all?
Hi guys, can you tell me if you can wander into the forest or are tourists bound to stay around the main site?
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Hello you get assigned a guide once you arrive who will explain things and take you to areas to explore. You have a lot of free time but can't wander too far from your main group.
@Snuffkin
Жыл бұрын
@@PeterandYen Thanks guys.
Have you got a link to the elephant nature park you could share please ?
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Hello the details are all in the description below the video
@avs6372
4 ай бұрын
Or Google elephant nature park ❤
Yo! 😊
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
Yo 👋
ขอบคุณที่มาเที่ยวประเทศไทยครับฉันชอบเห็นช้างแบบใกล้ๆแบบนี้🥰
@PeterandYen
9 ай бұрын
❤️❤️❤️🐘🥰
@philburns68
9 ай бұрын
🐘❤️🙏🙏 kzread.info/dash/bejne/laF5k6h8Xa6vmqQ.htmlfeature=shared
One of the reasons not to bathe with the elephants is the same reason I'm not keen on swimming with 🐬 lol
@PeterandYen
Жыл бұрын
😂😂😂 hmmm would be very fishy 🐟
they used to do that to horses as a mean to domesticate them to listen to humans by beating them.
@avs6372
4 ай бұрын
It's pathetic the abuse of elephants in Asia. The worst videos of my life. Tragic.
I am going there next month for the two day one night package.
I heard of this elephant sanctuary a few years ago and while my mother was there during the COVID pandemic visiting family, she was explicitly told by locals/taxi drivers to NOT visit this place because they are not ethical and steal the money of supporters. Based on your personal experience and observation, would you say that there is any truth to these statements? I have my suspicions as to why they may been told this, but I'd like to gather your thoughts first. Thanks!!
@PeterandYen
10 ай бұрын
Seems pretty hard to believe such a claim 😅 The founder Lek has won a lot of awards for her conservation and activist work plus incredible dedication to ENP. They're really informative on their website and social media accounts too which you might want to take a look through plus they are extremely well known for being ethical (at least in terms of a proper sanctuary). Maybe it was a miscommunication/misunderstanding or a different place but the elephants definitely look well cared for and they also have before and after photos etc showing the improvements for so many of the elephants health and videos showing rescues made etc. Their media page on the website has a lot of articles you can check out too: www.elephantnaturepark.org/in-the-media/ It just seems like quite an accusation for them to make about stealing money but I guess you can never really really know unless you're personally involved.
@avs6372
4 ай бұрын
They are jealous.
So it's basically a zoo. What do you think about horses used for horse races or show jumping? Is it ethical?!
What a depressing video.