Where to see Elephants near Bangkok, Thailand

There are many Elephant Sanctuaries in Thailand but not all of them are actual sanctuaries that look out for the benefit of the animal. Many of them allow you to ride the elephants or use bullhooks to control them which is abusive and detrimental to their health. Unfortunately, if you are only visiting Bangkok, there are not many options close by. So you might be wondering; are there elephants in Bangkok? Pattaya Elephant Jungle Sanctuary is a relatively new sanctuary that is just a 2 hour bus ride from Bangkok! (Their Facebook page) They do not allow riding and do not use any bull hooks! It’s a great option if you are visiting Bangkok for a few days but are not planning on travelling to Chiang Mai or Phuket where some of the larger sanctuaries are located. Read more on what you need to know before going below.

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How to get there

You can buy both the bus ticket and your ticket to for the sanctuary online. I recommend booking ahead of time for the Sanctuary in case spots fill up. The half day visit costs about 2500 Bhatt (about $104 Canadian dollars) per person for a half day experience and it was more than worth it! Specially when you see the work they are doing and how the rescued elephants are well taken care of.

Buses run from Bangkok to Pattaya daily. Note that they do not allow food on board the bus so make sure to eat before you get on. Something I thought was unusual was that your seat number is at the back of your seat, not the number you see in front of you. Remember that before sitting down.

They will send someone from the Sanctuary to pick you up from the bus station who will be wearing an Elephant Sanctuary t-shirt. There are tons of of taxi drivers at the station and they are extremely annoying. They will relentlessly hassle you to hire them for a ride. I did not find the driver right away so ended up having to call them to make sure they were picking us up. It was hard to hear the person on the other end with the taxi drivers all yelling. It really helps to buy a local sim card if you’re not a local for moments like this. It comes in very handy. Just a heads up that at the Pattaya Bus Station, you have to pay to use the bathroom so make sure you bring some change with you.

Meeting the elephants

The elephant were quite intimidating at first due to their size. There were 4 elephants when we went. One of them was pregnant so it’s possible you may get to see the baby when you go! The oldest of the family was 65 years old and they called her the grandma! You will hear a little bit of background about each of them and their story. The manager told us that he rescues them from the circus, the logging industry and from elephant riding camps. You’ll notice some of their ears are ripped; that is from the use of bullhooks to control them. There is a rough schedule of activities but the elephants are free to do as they please so you may not stick to the original schedule as planned. Overall, it felt good to know that our money was going to a good cause and not contribute to the abuse of elephants. You also get a traditional shirt to wear for the day and keep as a souvenir.

**You’ll get to take them for a walk which in reality means you’ll take a bucket of food and they’re going to follow you like puppies asking to be fed!**

Interacting with them

Elephants eat a lot, they pretty much kept eating the entire day! You will get to feed them bananas, cucumbers, watermelons and pineapples. They can gulp down whole watermelons! Even more shocking was seeing them eat whole pineapples with the skin on!

It’s amazing to watch them use their trunks to hold the pineapples and bite off only the fleshy part. They were so friendly although it did take time to get use to their size. After feeding them, we went for a walk. They followed us as we filled our pockets with food and fed them along the way. We stopped for a bit in the shade while they went to graze and do their business in the fields. Next we went into a muddy area to give them a mud bath. Then we were off in the river to wash off the mud.

**Mud bath in the river - Elephant Style**

Making paper from elephant poop!

After lunch, they planned an activity for us, which was making paper from elephant poop. Don’t worry, the collection of the poop is already done ahead of time and it is boiled and prepared so it is ready for you. In case you’re wondering, no, it did not smell.

I was pleasantly surprised that they had a photographer with us the whole day taking photos that were later available for free! I highly recommend this place for any animal lover who doesn't want to see animals abused at the circus or doing unnatural tricks at a show. I used my waterproof camera to record some bits from the day. I don’t recommend bringing your phone even if it is waterproof because of the mud and the chance that you could drop it in the river and lose it. I shot the video mostly with my waterproof camera although I have since upgraded to the DJI Osmo Action Camera . If you’re going to Thailand, make sure to visit an Elephant Sanctuary but do your research first to ensure you are not contributing to animal abuse!