Elephant Care + Whitewater Rafting & ATV

Elephant in Wild is a small sanctuary in the Mae Taeng valley, about an hour and a half north of Chiang Mai. There is no riding, and the sanctuary says it uses no chains or hooks because the herd is free to roam. You spend your time with the elephants the way their keepers do: preparing their food, feeding them, watching them roam, and joining them at the mud spa and in the river. This is the fullest combination the sanctuary offers, with rafting and an ATV ride on top of the elephant care, and it suits people who want one big day rather than two separate trips north.

After the drive out through farmland you change into a mahout style shirt and get a short introduction to the elephants and the herbal food balls the keepers make for them. You cut sugar cane, prepare a batch of the vitamin balls yourself and hand them over, then watch the herd roam and forage. Later they head for the mud spa, which protects their skin from insects, and then the river, where you help wash them. A Thai lunch is served at the sanctuary. Reviewers describe the lunch as a hot meal served beside the river.

The rafting covers a stretch of the Mae Taeng river in a rubber raft, around 50 minutes with a guide steering, and how lively the rapids are depends on the season and the water level. Then you swap the paddle for handlebars and drive an ATV along the dirt trails through forest and farmland around the sanctuary, with a guide leading the group.

Pickup is from hotels in the city centre between 08:00 and 08:30 and you are back in Chiang Mai around 18:30. It is a long, physical day; bring a full change of clothes and expect to be tired and happy on the ride home.