Elephants in Thailand: how to see them responsibly

The single most useful thing to know is that riding is the problem, and that most of what looks like a sanctuary is not one.

Thailand's elephant tourism is improving but still uneven. The word "sanctuary" is unregulated, and plenty of places using it offer rides, shows or an endless conveyor of visitors bathing elephants for photographs.

In short

• There is no elephant riding on our itinerary. None, anywhere on the route
• We visit an elephant clinic where injured and sick animals are treated
• And a rescued elephant sanctuary at Mae Wang, guided by the village mahouts
• A maximum of 12 travellers, which is part of what makes a visit tolerable for the animals
• The questions to ask any operator are at the end of this page — use them on us too

They sit back to back, near Chiang Mai, and they are deliberately different from each other.

The clinic. A morning at the Friends of the Elephants clinic, meeting the animals and the staff who care for them. This is the veterinary side of the story rather than the scenic one — injured and sick elephants, the work of treating them, and how they came to be there. It is quieter and more sobering than people expect, and it is the day that changes how travellers think about the rest.

The sanctuary. The following day you leave Chiang Mai for Mae Wang, and the rescued elephant sanctuary. You are guided by the village mahouts — the people who actually care for these animals — who tell you the individual histories: where each elephant came from, what it was used for, and how it lives now.

Both days also give you the Karen community's own perspective, which is a necessary part of the picture rather than an add-on.

An elephant's back is not built to carry weight in the way its size suggests, and the howdah saddles used for tourist riding cause lasting damage.

The deeper problem is what precedes it. An elephant that carries people has been made to accept being ridden, and the traditional method of achieving that is brutal and happens when the animal is young. The ride you take is the end of a process that began years earlier.

So the rule is simple, and it does not need caveats: we do not ride elephants, and no departure of ours offers it as an optional extra.

We are also wary of the softer versions. Elephant shows — painting, football, tricks — depend on the same training. Bathing sessions with a queue of visitors are largely a photo product, and while they look gentler, an elephant handled by strangers all day is not resting.

None of that is on our itinerary.

The awkward truth is that there is no perfect answer, only better and worse ones.

Thailand has thousands of captive elephants. They cannot simply be released — most have never lived wild, the habitat to absorb them does not exist, and they are extremely expensive to keep. Somebody has to pay for their food and care, and in practice that is tourism.

So the useful question is not "captive or wild" but what the animal's day looks like: is it working, or is it being kept? Is it in a group of its own kind? Can it choose to walk away from you?

A small group matters here more than anywhere else on a Thailand itinerary. Twelve people arriving is a different event for an elephant than fifty. It is also, frankly, the difference between hearing a mahout talk about a specific animal and being processed through a photo line.

Use these on us as well as on anyone else. A good operator will answer all five without hesitating.

1. Is there any riding, at any point, including optional? If the answer needs a paragraph, it is a yes.

2. Are there shows, performances or tricks?

3. How many visitors are at the site at once, and how many groups a day?

4. Can the elephants move away from visitors if they choose to?

5. Who are the guides, and what is their relationship to the animals? Mahouts who care for specific elephants can tell you those elephants' histories. A tour guide reading a script cannot.

If you would like the wider view of how we approach this, what immersive travel really means sets out the thinking, and two weeks in Thailand shows where these two days sit in the route. The trip is land-only and every departure is guaranteed.