Ethisch olifantenkijken vanuit Bangkok & Pattaya

The experience was amazing, our guide Jumbo or crazy man was excellent great knowledge and respect of the elephants. We were told we would get an English speaking driver to the venue but that didn’t happen and he had to use google translate whilst driving to communicate with us, that aside feeding and spending time with the elephants was amazing.

One of the best experiences ever! The elephants were amazing and the mahouts were gentle and kind to them. Fun to feed, bath and learn about this majestic animal!

My mother and I thoroughly enjoyed this tour and it definitely exceeded our expectations. The night before, the time was changed from 0600 to 0730, but the driver was prompt and got us there safely and on time. When we arrived we met up with the other participants and went over some safety info. As for the sanctuary itself, the handlers seemed to really care for the elephants. They gave us lots of information and answered all of our questions. We fed the elephants sugar can and bananas, pet them and got pictures with them. They took plenty of pictures of us as well and gave us the link so we could download them. We walked around some of the open areas where they roam around to see how they live and then (if you want to get into the water), you could help throw water on them. Afterwards, we had a nice meal of pad Thai and fruit. They were also very thorough with making sure everyone got something to eat according to diet/allergy (vegetarian/gluten free, etc). The driver waited for us until we were ready to leave and dropped us right off at our hotel.

This was a 5 star experience, but could only give it 4 stars due to inconsistent pick up time. We booked and paid for a 9:00 am pick up. Along the way, the confirmation changed to 10:00 am pick up (no big deal). But maybe less than 24 hours before the scheduled pick up time, I get a notification that pick up was now 12:00. No explanation. I reconfirmed with the provider via the Viator app that the pick up had changed and they answered “yes”. Luckily we had no plans in the afternoon so kept our fingers crossed that everything would go well. Maybe at 11:45, I get a Whatsapp notice that my ride has arrived. True to Thai courtesy, our driver was polite and efficient, but didn’t really speak English. After about 90 minutes elephants came into sight. We joined maybe about 50 other people and thought this may not be ideal, but that wasn’t the case. You really get up close and personal with the elephants. It was a once in a life time experience. The guides at the sanctuary were knowledgeable and were eager to answer questions. So all in all, a 5 star elephant experience and driver experience, but 4 star experience for unexplained changes to pick up time.

This review is only for the tour company ‘Trips Planner’ and NOT the Living Green Elephant Sanctuary. I will write another review for them. We reviewed several Viator tours before choosing this one. We were willing to pay more money because the Additional Information said that “This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers”, so we signed up for the 6:00 am tour. The date and time we signed up for was full so we were asked if we could move to the afternoon tour. That didn’t work for us from a scheduling perspective so we moved to the following day. The pickup time changed a few times but the night before we were set for an 8:00 am pick up time. The driver arrived at 7:05 am so I contacted the agency because we weren’t ready and she indicated that he’d wait which he did. The driver was great. He made a 10 stop along the way so that we could get coffee, use the restroom etc. We also had conversations with the tour company about the group size, because we were verifying that the max was 15 travelers. The evening before our tour we were told that our group would be 20 travelers. We did have a choice to cancel but thought that 5 more travelers would be ok. When we arrived at the sanctuary there were 36 people in our group. In speaking with the sanctuary guide he indicated that they never break off into smaller groups because they didn’t have the people resources. If we had known we definitely wouldn’t have paid $165 per person after taxes and fees. My recommendation is book a different and cheaper tour to the sanctuary. You’ll still have a wonderful visit and lunch but you’ll have paid a lot less.

Wow! We had a private driver from our hotel 1 1/2 drive but because we had the car to ourselves I got a nap in. Arrived safely. Tour guides were informative, spoke great English. Elephants were fantastic! Lunch was tasty and included in the tour. Great day!

Lovely time with the elephants and the caretakers at Living Green. Nice meal, and beautiful time feeding and taking a walk with the elephants. Much more up close than we expected. They clearly care a lot about the elephants well being.

This is a once in a lifetime experience! I don't often give high marks for tours but this one definitely exceeded my expectations. I would recommend it to old and young. The wonder of elephants never fades. It was the perfect ending to a 5 week vacation. The people did an excellent job of giving us an understanding of elephant behaviour while allowing us to experience the animals. I'm thinking of going to their refuge in Chiang Mai the next time I am in Thailand.

The trip provided a look into the plight of elephants in Thailand and efforts of the group. It was it was a fun hands on experience If you are leaving from Bangkok, check your departure time in advance. Long story short, the night before the vendor changed the departure time from 8AM to 6AM. This caused half of group not to attend. Viator cited the 24 hour cancellation policy and did not advocate on our behalf eventhought it was a vendor error. I am a Viator fan however, they dropped ball this time

Very well, run ethical sanctuary for the elephants. It appears that they seem to trust their handlers and are quite docile. We were glad to see that there is a place for rehabilitation after human abuse.