Maeklang Elephant Sky Camp Experience

I traveled to Thailand knowing I wanted to visit to an elephant sanctuary, though I was wary picking one. I heard stories about how some were unethical, and of course I wanted to find the real deal. After many stressful days researching, I finally made my choice: Maeklang Elephant Conservation Sky Camp.

Read on to find out about my experience with this company and other useful information for anyone searching for an ethical elephant experience in Thailand.

Doing the Research

Chiang Mai, a city situated in the northwest, mountainous region of Thailand, is perhaps the place most known for elephant tourism in the country. In the past, elephant riding was a big tourist attraction in Thailand. Luckily, these cruel practices have dwindled with education and outrage by animal advocates.

Although some places do still offer elephant riding, you’ll see campaigns against this practice everywhere. Elephant backs are very weak, so carrying anything on their backs is cruel torture.

Right, so I’ll just go to a place that doesn’t offer elephant riding. Those places are ethical, aren’t they?

Not necessarily. With the outrage of tourists over the ethics of elephant riding, many companies rebranded themselves as riding-free places. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re now ethical.

The elephants could still be held in terrible conditions, chained and hit. Also, many places have trained the elephants to perform certain tricks and shows for tourists. That doesn’t sound like a sanctuary to me- sounds like slavery.

I wanted a place that truly, genuinely cared about the rescued elephants and that strived to give them the most comfortable life possible.

Problem was, there were dozens of places around Chiang Mai advertising this. Like I already mentioned, I ended up going with Maeklang. I chose them because in addition to having good reviews regarding its ethics, they also offered a package with a half day trip to Doi Inthanon National Park.

Here’s my experience with this company.

Morning: Maeklang Sky Camp

Maeklang Elephant Conservation has two locations: the Sanctuary Main Camp and the Sky Camp. While the Main Camp is bigger and has more elephants, the newer and smaller Sky Camp is where my tour took me.

I was a bit worried about my decision to go with Maeklang. I worried about the company’s ethics, I worried if half a day would be enough time to be with the elephants, and I worried if there would be enough elephants for everyone in the group to be able to intimately interact with.

My worries evaporated as soon as we arrived. Not necessarily because I saw from first glance that my worries were void. But because all the thoughts in my head were evaporated by the sight a tiny baby elephant, replaced by the pure joy this little guy brought me.

The Elephants

Everywhere I read online said the Maeklang Sky Camp had only three rescued elephants. But baby William was born just 21 days previously, bringing that number up to four.

My first sight of him was as he clumsily jumped around in excitement, his little trunk swinging, as he played with the water a worker was pouring from a hose. It was the happiest thing I have ever seen in my life, and it was the moment I knew I chose the right place.

The workers introduced us to the other elephants during a briefing we had upon arrival. William’s mother was Bambam, and she and he were unfortunately inside a pen during our entire visit. This wasn’t out of cruelty, but to prevent a fight from breaking out.

See, the other two elephants, Boonmee and Khummoon, would sometimes get too close to William. And mama Bambam, still fiercely protective of her 21-day-old baby, would charge at them and start fighting. For this reason, the two pairs of elephants were released separately until William matured a bit and mama got less protective.

We had to wash our hands before petting William, because he was still VERY curious about EVERYTHING.

And he expressed this curiosity by trying to put everything in his mouth, including the strange arms trying to touch him and to feed his mom sugar cane.

Besides him, all the other elephants (Bambam, Boonmee, Khummoon) were rescued from the Thai-Burma border from a hard life of forced labor.

Most of the elephants enslaved at the border work in the illegal logging industry, but some are even used to fight in the conflict going on there.

Feeding the Elephants

After the briefing and changing into our swim suits and the tunics they provide, we headed down the hill with bags full of sugar cane.

Half of us went to the pen area to play with the excited baby William and to feed his mom some sugar cane, while the others went to the area where Boonmee and Khummoon were lounging, waiting to be fed.

I of course headed straight for baby William. After playing with him and feeding his mom some sugar cane, I finally decided to force myself away from the little cutie to give the other elephants sugar cane. [Baby William couldn’t eat sugar cane yet; he was still only drinking Bambam’s milk.]

The one really touristy thing about this place is the pictures everyone was taking, posing while feeding the elephants sugar cane.

But the elephants didn’t seem to mind, as they were getting food, and it wasn’t harming them in any way since they weren’t forced to do anything. All they had to do was reach for and eat their sugar cane, which they were very eager to do.

So, of course I had my own photoshoot with these amazing animals.

I was a bit worried if all that sugar cane wasn’t too much food. After all, if I ate even a small fraction of the portions they were getting from our bags, I would have a sugar high for days.

Turns out, it wasn’t enough food. They got even more food after our next activities.

Mud Spa and River Bath

First, we went into a pit of muddy water to give the elephants a “mud spa.” Elephants love to be scratched, so we took clumps of mud and rubbed it into the elephants in a massage.

“We” entailed only a few people from our group, as many people were hesitant to get into the pit. I didn’t mind, not even when one of the elephants threw mud onto her own back with her trunk, splashing me with mud.

Turns out it wasn’t just mud either, as one of the elephants, um…relieved itself into the water. If you’ve never seen an elephant pee before, imagine a powerful waterfall. Luckily, the workers threw most of the big clumps of poo out of the water.

I can’t imagine they got all of it, though, so I was very glad when the elephants stood up after only about 10 minutes. They were done with the mud spa and ready for their bath.

Those of us who were in the mud pit were very eager to follow the elephants into the nearby river. Using buckets, we threw water from the river onto the elephants to wash off the mud.

And when they were done with the river, they got out and rubbed themselves on poles and trees, giving themselves even more massages. They do this so often that the wood of the trees and poles is worn down from the constant rubbing.

We had one last chance to hang around the elephants as they ate the bamboo provided for them in great heaps. Because the many bags of sugar cane we fed them wasn’t enough: elephants can eat hundreds of pounds of food each day!

Lunch: Sky Camp

And we got a lunch of our own at Maeklang Sky Camp.

Just up the hill from where the elephants were enjoying their bamboo, we were able to take showers (something I was really grateful for, since I didn’t get all of the mud off of me in the river) and change back into our own clothes.

After showers, we were treated to all-you-can-eat, fresh cooked Pad Thai.

Pretty much the best day ever. Except the day wasn’t over; after saying our last goodbyes to the four elephants, we continued our tour.

[Note: You can do a full day at the Maeklang Sky Camp, or you can even stay for several days to volunteer and sleep in bungalows right at the camp.

I was a bit worried half a day would be too short, but it turned out the be just enough time to enjoy the company of the elephants. But just know you have more options based on your preferences!]

Afternoon: Doi Inthanon National Park

We drove roughly 30 minutes from the Maeklang Sky Camp to Doi Inthanon National Park. Our first stop was to the impressive King and Queen pagodas.

These two impressive pagodas are located on a hill, and the view is supposed to be nice. I say “supposed to be” because it was a cloudy day, so we couldn’t really see anything.

The pagodas are religious sites, so make sure you have something to cover your shoulders and knees with.

Although I had a jacket with me, I didn’t have a sarong and had to resort to using a towel tied around my waist. A very stylish look, I know.

After that, the van drove us to a short trail leading up to the highest point in Thailand. Don’t expect any heavy hiking or beautiful views. It’s just a short, mostly flat, forested trail leading to a sign saying you’re at the highest spotin Thailand.

Beyond the sign, though, lies the beautiful, mossy burial site of the king who the national park was named after. Not a bad eternal resting place.

After another ride in the van, we finally began the big hike of the day (not serious though; only 2 hours). This trail led us through forests, next to impressive waterfalls, through lush, hilly farm fields and ending in a small village.

After some coffee there, the van picked us up from there and drove us back to our accommodations in Chiang Mai.

Overall Review

Despite my worries, Maeklang Elephant Conservation seemed like a genuinely ethical elephant conservation company for rescued elephants. The elephants there spend their days happily enjoying food, massages and baths.

Unlike other companies, they didn’t seem to be forced to perform any tricks or get chained up. Other than for the baby and mom being kept in their pens while the other elephants were out, and vice versa when the mom and baby were let out, the elephants were free to do what they wanted. Which was to eat and give themselves massages against trees.

There also weren’t too many people on the tour like some other places have, and this allows for more intimate time with the elephants.

The tour package I chose is perfect for anyone who wants an intimate experience with elephants, but is also short on time and wants to visit the nearby national park all in one day.

Our guide, Gla, was great, not only knowledgeable about the elephants. He also provided us with information about the national park and the surrounding area’s history and culture.

I had zero complaints for this tour. And I highly recommend it for anyone who’s in the same shoes I was in when trying to decide which elephant sanctuary to go with.

And if you hurry, you can still get to baby William while he’s still a baby 😉

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Interested in taking a writing retreat while you’re in Thailand? Check out my guide to the best places to write in the country!