Elephant Highlands - Single Day Visit (Elephant Nature Park)

Elephant Highlands is one of Elephant Nature Park's off-site day trips. Instead of visiting the main park, you spend the day at a project in the hills of Mae Taeng, about 90 minutes north of Chiang Mai, where a group of elephants lives on the mountainside and you walk with them. It suits reasonably fit adults and older children who would rather move with the animals through their own terrain than watch from a platform. Note that this trip does not include a visit to Elephant Nature Park itself.

Pickup is between 08:00 and 08:45 from hotels in Chiang Mai city, or you can join at the park's office in the old town at 07:40. The drive includes a safety briefing. On arrival you are introduced to the elephants, feed them, and start walking with them up the slopes. After a vegan buffet lunch there is a second walk on the mountain, then you prepare rice ball treats and feed the herd before the return transfer. You are back in the city around 17:30 to 18:00.

Expect up to three and a half hours of walking in total, on hillside paths that are often muddy, so a change of clothes and proper walking shoes matter. Elephant Nature Park runs its projects without riding or tethering; you are on foot beside the elephants the whole day. Bookings close 24 hours before the visit date.