A Morning with the Elephants at Phuket Elephant Sanctuary
Description
Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is the first ethical, 100% hands-off elephant sanctuary in Phuket where elephants roam around, bathe and sozialize freely across 30 acres of lush, tropical land bordering the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park in North East Phuket. We buy all rescued elephants to ensure that Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is their final home, and we offer professional veterinary care for old and injured elephants. By visiting us, you are supporting a sustainable, ethical and compassionate approach to elephant tourism where elephants have the freedom to live naturally. National Geographic, Lonely Planet and The Guardian have all endorsed our ethical approach.
Tour Options
Itinerary
A morning with the elephants is an eye-opening and inspiring experience. Following a scenic drive along a local village you will arrive at Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, a picturesque jungle dotted with ponds, wide open fields and hillsides for the elephants to roam around. Your visit starts at our Tree Top Lounge, where we will show you a presentation and educational video to prepare you for your encounter with the elephants, and to help you understand why they need to be protected. We then follow them down into the jungle. By keeping a safe distance and watching them from our Observation Salas, the elephants have the freedom to express their natural behavior, from bathing and playing in our pond to socializing with each other. The program ends with a delicious Thai vegetarian meal.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
(Pickup up to 90 minutes before the tour!) We offer shared roundtrip transfers from anywhere in the Phuket Province. To book a tour including shared roundtrip transfers, please select the "Program + Transfer" option. Pick-up and drop-off location must be identical, and the exact pick-up time, up to 90 minutes before the tour, will be advised via message or email shortly after completing your booking.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Italian speaking guides are available for the Half Day “A Morning with the Elephants” program on Wednesdays and Fridays only
- French speaking guides can be requested as a language preference, subject to guide availability, but cannot be guaranteed.
Reviews(1,880)
Lovely half day trip. I found it educational and uplifting to see these elephants living out the rest of their lives Roaming freely and being looked after. There was way more food provided for us than we thought.
This was a most beautiful experience being with these beautiful animals. The sanctuary is ethically caring and they look after all the retired elephants that have been used for tourist traps and work. The staff knew all of the elephants by name and history and you could tell they were there for the right reasons. Well organised with breakfast and lunch provided
This was an experience that we will remember for many years. We were collected from our resort and taken to the sanctuary in Paklok, North East Phuket. A sumptuous breakfast was on offer, but it did'nt attract us as we had eaten at our hotel. Following an informative video which detailed why these Asian elephants need protection, we were taken on a guided walking tour of the sanctuary's tropical bushland, enabling our small group to have an up close experience with these beautiful animals. There is no riding, bathing or feeding of the elephants, making it a purely observational experience, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Our tour guide was able to provide details about each elephant. Watching the elephants from the overhead canopy walkway was a bonus. Our last stop was the sanctuary's elephant hospital, Phuket's first. There we saw a suspended elephant, being treated for a broken leg, and another being given antibiotics for septicaemia. The sanctuary purchases elephants which are sick, injured or have been abused or overworked. They will never return to their previous lives. At the conclusion of the tour we were returned to our resort. We will definitely return to the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary on our next Phuket holiday.
Overall, I don’t feel the experience was worth the price. You see maybe 10 elephants, but for each one, you essentially stand there for 15–25 minutes watching it stand around. There was also very little information provided beyond basic facts, such as the elephant’s age. After that, you continue walking, have lunch, and then wait for the shuttle back. The entire experience felt very slow, underwhelming, and honestly not very exciting. For the price you pay, I expected a much more engaging and informative experience. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t consider it worth the money.
Amazing experience this morning being shown round the sanctuary by our guide Ice Cream 🥰 she was very knowledgeable and looked after us all. Hearing about all the elephants stories and where they came from was very humbling. Would highly recommend this experience for anyone wanting to see elephants in a ethical way
Amazing and an absolute once in a lifetime experience.
Phuket Elephant Sanctuary was wonderful from beginning to end! 🐘💚 We were picked up and transported from our hotel to the sanctuary, and everything was very welcoming and well organized. Snacks and water were available when we arrived, which was a nice touch. Our tour guide, Ice Cream, was fantastic! She was friendly, bubbly, and very knowledgeable about the elephants and their stories. It was such a wonderful experience seeing these beautiful elephants and learning about the sanctuary and the opportunity it provides them. Lunch was wonderful, and they even have a cute little gift shop to visit before leaving. Overall, this was a truly memorable experience and one I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Phuket! 🐘🌿🇹🇭
Fantastic place and experience. Would certainly recommend for all. A must do if in the area.
I loved the experience and shout out to KT for being so kind and he is a lovely person
This was our second time to visit the Elephant Sanctuary, the last time was 2022 and there have been some additions since then with the nice new checkin area and the new Elephant Hospital. Its great to see the money from the tours being reinvested into the santuary. We had a nice tour with our Guide KT who showed use around the elephants roaming around taking their baths. Our pickup from the hotel was nice and smooth and overall we had a great day,
