Elephant Care + Whitewater Rafting & Sticky Waterfall

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 day pairs the elephant care with the two best known water stops in the district, so it suits people who want variety without a long trek.

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.

The rafting is a stretch of the Mae Taeng river in a rubber raft, around 50 minutes with a guide steering. The rapids depend on the season: lively after rain, gentler when the river is low. The other stop is Bua Thong, the sticky waterfall. Spring water rich in calcium has coated the rock with a rough limestone that bare feet grip, so you walk up the falls on the rock itself, using the fixed ropes on the steeper bits, with pools to cool off in on the way.

Pickup is from hotels in the city centre between 08:00 and 08:30 and you are back in Chiang Mai around 18:30. You will be wet for most of the day; bring a full change of clothes and a towel.