11 Amazing & Ethical Elephant Experiences Around the World

It’s no secret that elephant riding is cruel. And as more and more tourists have begun to wake up and realise that elephant tourism can have a dark side, they’ve also demanded ethical ways to see elephants.

The largest of all land mammals, these majestic animals are highly intelligent, demonstrating behaviours such as self-awareness, compassion, grief and altruism. It’s no wonder, then, that people have always wanted to see them up close.

Elephants can be found across Asia and Africa, and these diverse continents both offer amazing experiences where travellers can encounter these magnificent animals. So, I reached out to travel bloggers and wildlife enthusiasts on Facebook and Twitter to compile a list of some of the best ethical elephant experiences around the world.

Ethical elephant experiences in Asia

Asian elephants are slightly smaller than their cousins from Africa, with proportionally smaller ears. They live in forested areas throughout India and Southeast Asia, although are sadly now endangered due to habitat loss and conflict with humans. Happily, there are a sprinkling of sanctuaries and national parks dedicated to protecting Asian elephants across the continent.

Elephant Nature Park, Thailand

Recommended by Abbie from Speck On The Globe

The sanctuary at the forefront of the movement towards ethical elephant experiences would have to be Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Lek Chailert, the founder of the sanctuary, paved the way with her mission of elephant welfare and animal rights.

The elephants at Elephant Nature Park are able to roam freely, and there are former mahouts working one on one with elephants to ensure their safety and that interactions with the animals are non-threatening and non-violent. There are no activities in which the elephants are forced to be ridden, do tricks or paint.

The park has a variety of options for visitors, ranging from observation-only day trips to 7+ day volunteer trips in sister locations throughout Thailand and Cambodia. It provides a unique opportunity to learn more about how elephants have been mistreated, why elephant tourism has been problematic in the past, and ways we can correct the errors tourists and tour operators have made in order to keep all wildlife happy and healthy.

Mandalao Elephant Sanctuary, Laos

Recommended by Aurelia from Daily Travel Pill

Finding ethical elephant sanctuaries is challenging, especially in Asia where a lot of the time, the animals are treated badly. Every tourist wants a selfie with an elephant, however, not everyone thinks about how that animal is treated, fed, and taken care of.

During my travels in Laos, I came across one of the most ethical and environmentally friendly elephant sanctuaries. At Mandalao Elephant Sanctuary in Luang Prabang, the elephants are free to explore 80 hectares of forest. The entire non-riding experience is focused on understanding these animals and how they function in the wild.

All the elephants here were rescued from tourist facilities where they were mistreated. A visit to Mandalao Elephant Sanctuary will start with a short introduction about the dangers of riding elephants. After that, you will be invited to feed the elephants with bananas. They’ll love it!

Lastly, you’ll enjoy the most interesting part of the experience — accompanying the elephants on their daily walk in the forest. You’ll see them eating roots, scratching themselves on trees, and feeling good. Basically, you can interact with these majestic animals without hurting them and this is awesome!

Elephant Valley, Thailand

Recommended by Sophie from The Wanderful Me

Hands down, one of the most ethical elephant sanctuaries in Thailand is located just on the outskirts of Chiang Rai in the northern part of the country. While Thailand is home to a multitude of “sanctuaries”, Elephant Valley Thailand is one that prides itself on being above average on the ethical scale.

Unlike other “sanctuaries”, you won’t find any touching, swimming, playing, or up-close encounters at Elephant Valley Thailand. Why? Because each and every elephant here is being rehabilitated to be released onto private wildland that Elephant Valley Thailand owns.

They want every elephant at the sanctuary to be relaxed and stress-free — which means no touching or up-close encounters with weird, unknown travellers! Not to mention, this is much safer for visitors as well… because we all know elephants are big creatures and can seriously hurt you. Ouch!

You won’t get to swim, bathe, hug, pet, or get up close and personal with the elephants, but will instead watch and admire from a safe distance, while supporting a truly ethical establishment in a place where elephants are abused and exploited every single day.

And if you really want to have a stellar experience, you can stay overnight at Elephant Valley Thailand to further support their conservation efforts! To read more about what it’s like visiting and staying at EVT, you can click here.

Minneriya National Park, Sri Lanka

Recommended by Joanna from The World In My Pocket

For an unforgettable ethical elephant experience, you must add Minneriya National Park to your Sri Lanka itinerary. Located in the central part of the island, Minneriya National Park is home to over 24 different species of mammals and 160 species of birds.

Minneriya National Park is famous for its elephant gatherings, which can reach numbers as high as 700 mammals during the draught season. You can explore the national park and observe the wild elephants through a jeep safari. It is not unusual to see large numbers of elephants, even in the rainy season. However, during the dry times of the year, it is typical to see 150-200 elephants gathered around the Minneriya water tank, where the grass fields are still green.

A jeep safari in Minneriya National Park takes around 3 hours and almost guarantees elephant sightings. It is the only way you can ethically experience the wildlife in Sri Lanka without disturbing it. The elephants are used to the jeeps and will ignore them, whilst crossing the street very close by. It is amazing to observe the interaction between elephants — especially the babies — playing with each other.

Ethical elephant experiences in Africa

Africa. A continent rich with plains, national parks and wildlife, it’s without a doubt the best place to go if you want to see elephants in the wild. Much like their Asian cousins, African elephants are sadly under threat due to habitat loss and poaching. Thankfully, conservation efforts are slowly rebuilding their numbers. Safaris and conservation projects offer the chance to get up close with these incredible mammals — in an ethical and responsible way.

Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya

Recommended by Amy from Travelling Tulls

Just within the boundaries of the Nairobi National Park is the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust orphanage. This is where baby elephants, orphaned while still milk dependent, are nurtured back to health and well-being. The Sheldrick Trust has a very high rate of success with over 100 elephants from the orphanage (and 35 of their calves!) now living freely in Tsavo National Park. We have been supporters of the Trust for many years, so it was with great excitement that we booked our trip to Nairobi.

The orphanage is open to all visitors for one hour every morning. During this time, a good-sized crowd stands along a barrier to watch the elephants run to their keepers for their midday bottle of milk. Each elephant’s story is told and the work of the Trust described. It’s a fun and informative presentation.

But if you sponsor an elephant you can return for an incredible afternoon visit.

At 5 pm, we followed Head Keeper Edwin Lusichi into the woods beyond the stockade. We lined the path and waited for the elephants to come running in for the night. After they were all inside, we visited each baby and chatted with the keepers who had made such a difference in these orphans’ lives.

Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa

Recommended by Erin from Sol Salute

What better place to see elephants in their own habitat than in a national park dedicated to them! An Addo Elephant National Park safari is the best place to see elephants in South Africa. This national park is home to hundreds of elephants and you won’t leave without multiple, memorable sightings

Seeing them in a national park is the best way to see elephants (and any animal) in their natural habitat, living life as they should. It is 100% ethical. While in Addo, you’ll also see its large population of Cape Buffalo, easily checking off two of the Big 5 in one day.

Addo is located near Port Elizabeth on South Africa’s popular Garden Route. It’s easily visited as a day trip during road trips along this beautiful drive. Addo is a much smaller park than Kruger in the Northeast and it’s possible to see it in one day. You can organize a guided game drive or head out on your own on a self-drive safari. It’s an easy park to navigate and however you decide to visit, you’ll be sure to see more elephants than you can count!

Sweet Water Camp, Kenya

Recommended by Jyoti and Nirmal from Story At Every Corner

Elephants are some of the smartest creatures on the planet — research proves that from observing them in the wild. Luckily for us, there are many elephants in the wild that we can observe on wildlife safaris, too.

We’ve been fortunate to have observed elephants in national park safaris around the world — Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Sri Lanka, India and more. One of the most fun elephant encounters is in Kenya’s Sweet Water camp, a luxury safari camp. We watched elephants from our tent, while having an outdoor meal, and walking about the property. We could watch elephants and all the other wildlife all day and night simply because of the location and layout of Sweet Water camp.

The tents are arranged in a semi-circle around a water hole. The other side of the water hole is open to wildlife. So elephants, giraffes, zebra, antelope, lions, etc freely visit the water hole for a drink and they’re not afraid of humans watching or photographing them all the time. Humans too need not be afraid because a deep trench separates the lodge dome the pond.

Of all the top places to visit in Kenya, this camp provided the most convenient and full-time view of animals.

Chobe National Park, Botswana

Recommended by Derek and Mike from Robe Trotting

We recently enjoyed a trip to Africa where we embarked on a brilliant Botswana safari. The highlight of the tour was, of course, the wildlife. Botswana has executed a massive conservation effort in the last few decades. Along with the seasonal flooding of the Okavango Delta, the wildlife was abundant, especially elephants.

Our elephant encounter was truly stunning and we got closer than I ever expected while cruising the Chobe River. The sunset river safari featured crocodiles, buffalo, hippos and a surprising amount of elephants. We spotted herds of elephants almost immediately and spent three hours floating around and taking in the views. We watched them soak in the river to cool off and saw calves rolling around in the muddy banks of the river.

For us, there was no need to ride them or see them in any way besides their natural habitat. There were so many elephants that we lost count and they allowed us to approach so closely — it was a perfect elephant observation that was cruelty-free. Our favourite moments were watching a single elephant cooling off in the river with the setting sun on the horizon. It was truly magic!

Volunteer at Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve, Malawi

Recommended by Lora from Explore With Lora

One of the best ways to ethically see elephants is to volunteer on a conservation project. Not only does it allow you to see these amazing animals up close, but you can make a positive difference in their lives! I spent two weeks volunteering on a conservation project in Malawi at Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve.

The reserve is home to four of the big five animals in Africa, including the African elephant. But right now, there isn’t accurate data about wildlife populations in Malawi. One of the main goals of the project is to assess the nature and patterns of biodiversity in the area, in order to project it in the future.

Elephants are one of the main animals in the reserve, so each day we would go out in a small group with a scientist and scout to look for elephants to collect data on. Once we found a herd, we’d stop from a safe distance to observe them and take notes, plus photos to analyze after. The scientists are trying to get an accurate number of how many elephants are in the area, so each one has to be individually identified. Not an easy task!

Getting to see large herds of elephants in the wild on a daily basis was an experience I’ll never forget. If you have the time, volunteering on a conservation project is an incredible way to see elephants while protecting their future.

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Recommended by Arrianne from Travel Habeat

South Africa’s first national park, Kruger National Park, lies across the provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. It was named after Paul Kruger who battled a 12-year crusade to conserve the wildlife.

We started our safari adventure at the onset of dawn. While we were primarily chasing the big cats or lions early on, we immediately came across, as I would describe them, one of the gentler giants. It was the sight of an elephant that seemed to silently enjoy his breakfast amidst the greens. Even if it was not my first time to meet such creature, it was a different experience seeing him on his own, in the wild. It was indeed a beautiful view.

Elephants are actually part of what they refer to as the Big Five of Africa. Compared to other wild animals, we saw the elephants more frequently, from time to time. The best was when we encountered them in a herd, crossing the road. All of us were amused, especially with the baby elephants in the group. That was really something! We waited for all of them to pass through even though we can just gaze at them forever. If anyone asks me about the highlights of my Kruger safari tour, our encounter with the elephants will definitely be one.

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Reserve, South Africa

Recommended by Rai from A Rai of Light

Having an encounter with an elephant or any other animal in the wild is one of the best reasons to visit South Africa. It helps to do a bit of research to know which encounters are ethical and which to avoid. Thanks to many conservationists, the emphasis in South Africa’s wildlife tourism sector is on protecting the wildlife and respecting the people and animals that live in these places.

My visit to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi reserve was one such example. Situated in the Kwazulu Natal region, the Zululand ecosystem is one of the most bio-diverse wildlands, with much of it declared a World Heritage Site. It can also be considered as a stronghold for species such as the elephant and rhino. This medium-sized reserve has a growing and flourishing elephant population of almost 1000, almost guaranteeing a sighting during a game drive.

Large breeding herds are sighted regularly on the banks of the Black Umfolozi River as well as watering holes. The elephants are wild and always viewed from a distance without any human interaction that would place the elephants in any harm whatsoever, helping to preserve this as a true wildlife sanctuary.

And there we have it — a range of ethical elephant experiences across the world. Do you have any more suggestions to add to this list?

---

Thank you for reading! If you found this post useful, I’d be grateful if you would consider using the affiliate links below when planning your travels. I’ll make a small commission at no extra cost to you. This will help me to keep this blog running. Thanks for your support – Lauren.

Hotels – Booking.com
Hostels – Hostelworld
Cheap flights – Skyscanner
Travel insurance – World Nomads
Outdoor gear – Decathlon / GO Outdoors
Cycling gear – Chain Reaction Cycles

Alternatively, you could buy me a coffee to say thanks!