Best Elephant Sanctuaries Thailand Phuket: Ethical Travel Guide

This is where I’m going to start with a strong statement: traveling is fun, but it’s your responsibility to raise your ethical standards. If you’re exploring Phuket and want an awesome elephant sanctuary experience, make sure you’re looking at the right ones - the ones that really care about the beautiful animals - not the cash, clout, or profit. These elephant sanctuaries take that to heart. They don’t just meet the standard, they rise above them.

Welcome to the places Phuket’s elephants call home. Elephant sanctuaries keep the beautiful beasts safe with veterinary care, plus rehabilitation for sick, injured, and elderly elephants. Many times, they are rescued from the logging or tourism industries (like elephant riding or street begging).

The Green Flags for Spotting a Legitimate Ethical Elephant Sanctuary:

• They DO NOT ALLOW Riding: Even "bareback", to make sure there hasn't been any harmful training to make an elephant allow a human to ride them at the sanctuary.

• Observation Over Forced Interaction: You should be at a safe distance from the elephants while walking with guides. It’s the elephant’s choice whether to interact with you or not.

• No-Chains or Bullhooks: Mahouts are elephant caretakers that use no chains, bullhooks (sharp metal hooks), or other tools to physically control elephants. Their relationship should be built on trust and positive reinforcement.

• Reputable Rescue & Rehab: Retired, sick or rescued animals should be focused on being taken care of.

• Third-Party Accreditation: The sanctuary should show accreditation from real international welfare organizations with a great reputation like World Animal Protection (WAP) or standards bodies like Asian Captive Elephant Standards (ACES).

• Large, Natural Habitat: A natural jungle or forest area around 30+ acres should be provided so the elephants can roam, forage, and socialize naturally.

• Transparency in Rescue Stories: They should be able to clearly tell you where each elephant was rescued, their backstory, and how they are being rehabilitated.

• Focus on Socializing/Herds: A big green flag is if social bonds for elephants are a core mission. This lets them build their own herds and make companions themselves.

The Red Flags (What to AVOID):

• Forced Bathing/Washing with Tourists: A common hidden red flag. Forcing an elephant to stand still for a large group of tourists to scrub or throw water on them causes stress, disrupts natural bathing behavior (rolling in mud/water with the herd), and requires control/force.

• Performances or Tricks: If you see elephants paint, play soccer, stand on their hind legs, or perform any unnatural "show", this means the elephant had to go through “the crush”. The crush, or Phajaan, is training through physical abuse, isolation, and starvation to break a wild elephant's spirit. This then lets the “trainers” force the elephants to listen and submit to commands from humans, like riding or trick performances.

• Unaccompanied Baby Elephants: Rescue sanctuaries should be focused on rescuing older, sick, or injured elephants. A bad sign is seeing baby elephants without their mother, as they hint at forced breeding or separation.

• Unrestricted Touching or Hugging: The elephant's boundaries MUST be respected. If they are being ignored for tourists wanting to hug, climb on, or take close-up selfies with elephants, this is a massive red flag.

• Large, Overcrowded Tour Groups: Lots of tourists creates a really stressful, loud environment. Ethical sanctuaries should restrict the amount of visitors to keep disruption at a low and maintain peaceful homes for the elephants.

• Vague or Missing Information: A website or guides should clearly explain where the elephants are from, why mahout's tools are being used, and what the elephants do when tourists aren’t there.

Things to Keep in Mind:

Observation >> Interaction: Interaction will not be forced, instead, enjoy observing the elephants in their natural environment. They’ll probably be peacefully roaming, foraging, and socializing. Some may allow light supervised feeding.

Let’s Talk Ethics: Hands Off! Most of these ethical sanctuaries will have a hands-off policy (no touching), use no bullhooks or chains, and officially meet the high standards of animal welfare organizations.

Without further ado, here are the best elephant sanctuaries in Phuket, Thailand.

1. Phuket Elephant Sanctuary (PES): The OG's - Best for Observation

Highlight Reel: This is the very first ethical sanctuary in Phuket for elephants! Thailand’s most extensive elevated jungle path treetop walk is here (great for non-intrusive viewing); this is also home to Phuket’s first elephant hospital.

PES specifically takes care of elephants who had a past of forced labor, but are now retired. Step into 30 acres of jungle. Don’t worry, there’s no dinosaurs here from Jurassic Park, just friendly elephants :) Come with the fam, they are family friendly! (kids under 4 years old get free tickets) This sanctuary also has the very first hospital for elephants in Phuket.