Nestled in the picturesque Mae Wang district, one hour south of Chiang Mai, Maeklang Elephant Conservation Community provides a serene refuge for elephants, surrounded by lush forests, rice paddies, and vibrant banana plantations. Our mission is to create a safe environment where elephants can thrive away from the pressures of tourism. By promoting eco-tourism, we educate locals and visitors on sustainable agricultural practices that utilize elephants in an organic farming model. We prioritize family unity among rescued elephants, ensuring that mothers and their calves remain together for a stress-free life. Visitors can engage with our elephants, feeding and bathing them while learning about their natural behaviors. Join us in celebrating these majestic creatures and supporting their conservation! Thank you for being a part of Maeklang.
Maeklang Elephant Conservation Community is a sanctuary located in the stunning Mae Wang district, just an hour’s drive from the bustling city of Chiang Mai. Surrounded by the beauty of nature, our sanctuary features a flowing mountain river, expansive forests, and fertile fields, creating a harmonious environment for our elephants. We are dedicated to providing an eco-friendly and safe haven for elephants who have faced the harsh realities of tourism and labor. At Maeklang, our primary focus is on promoting eco-tourism while educating both locals and visitors about the importance of sustainable practices. We demonstrate how elephants can enhance organic farming methods, allowing communities to thrive without the use of harmful pesticides. When rescuing elephants, we make it a priority to keep families intact, ensuring that mothers and their young remain together, ultimately creating a nurturing atmosphere for all. Visitors have the unique opportunity to interact with our elephants through feeding, bathing, and playing in the mud, fostering a deep connection with these magnificent beings. We invite you to learn about elephants in their natural habitat and contribute to their conservation. Thank you for choosing Maeklang Elephant Conservation Community, where love and care for these gentle giants is at the heart of everything we do.
Maeklang Elephant Conservation Community (แม่วาง, ไทย) - รีวิว - ThailandAgoda.com
Attractions
6 miles
1.13 miles
1.18 miles
1.47 miles
1.54 miles
1.97 miles
1.98 miles
2.21 miles
3.09 miles
3.26 miles
3.91 miles
Maeklang Elephant Conservation Community is perched on a picturesque hilltop overlooking 50360, Thailand
Visited here as part of a day trip with half day here and half day at doi inthanon park. Ethical elephant camp taking care of rescued elephants. Lovely to see them so happy and being so well treated and the whole experience will be with me forever
For anyone travelling to Chiang Mai, PLEASE DO NOT RIDE ELEPHANTS! Do yourself a massive favour and come here.Emmerse yourself with these beautiful animals, and learn about their previous lives and understand why riding is not beneficial to the elephants. All the staff were amazing. My driver Chan, and Galah my guide are and were awesome. Lunch was exquisite, and the elephants…… Legends. Will certainly be back here again. I booked this tour quite early, and was lucky enough to have 8 elephants all to myself. Truly a magical and rewarding experience.
Unforgettable. Every moment of our two day overnight experience with Maeklang Elephant Conservation Community was amazing. We visited as a family with three teenagers and stayed overnight at the sky camp. From three in the afternoon until 11am the next day, it was just our family, the elephants and their handlers. Magical.We helped feed the elephants, entertain the three month old baby elephant William, enjoyed a Thai BBQ under the starry skies at night and slept in a cosy bamboo hut by the river. In the morning we were woken by the elephants through the window. Highly recommend this group, they displayed thoughtfulness and kindness to us and the elephants. We booked through PM Tours Chiang Mai.
It’s quite hard to describe exactly what i think about the 2d/1n experience we had. The first camp was bad. Way more people than i expected, no introduction on the elephants or how to behave next to them etc. Straight away, here’s the bananas go feed them.Then i was shocked by the behaviour of people, screaming and running which obviously disturbed the elephants, which for most of them wanted to get away from the crowd. No chance tho. The mahouts started by pulling their ears and if the elephants carried on, using sharp objects hidden (badly) in their pockets. I saw a mahout threatening a pregnant elephant with his fist. Spoke to people around and nobody was noticing anything or justifying it. I wanted to leave when i saw the mud and water time. Elephant are forced everyday to do the same at a certain time to please tourists. Forced to spray them.Anyway we moved on to the second camp and there it’s better. More space less people. Still the elephants are not free to go, the mahouts are in their hammack and the elephants aren’t allowed to leave them. So big space but not used by the elephants.So overall i think the owner has good intentions, no riding and taking elephants from bad places but don’t get mistaken, this isn’t a sanctuary, it is people orientated not elephant orientated and i would advise to stay away. Give your money to place that are giving those giants a good life, not just a little better life. I definitively regret going there.
Firstly, I must state that I believe that the staff care for the elephants and that the elephants appeared well fed.That said I ultimately I felt bad at the end of the day and so did the rest of my group for the following reasons. 1. The amount of space was tiny. This tiny space was allowed to be invaded by the tourists who were determined to feed the elephants bananas and get there photo taken. A simple step here would be to simply cut out the human interaction and create observation points to watch the elephants interact with each other, not tourists. After all conservation is about improving the elephants life.2. The elephants were not autonomous. They were told what to do by the mahout and this basically was to interact with the tourists. This was exemplified by the elephants being led to the river for there daily mud bath. Again a simple solution is to let the elephants choose if and when they go for the mud bath. If they love this forced daily routine then surely the mahout would not need to lead the elephants to it at scheduled times!I truly hope that in the near future they acquire more land for the elephants. I also hope they choose to change direction and let the elephants choose there daily routine rather than force a routine upon them. It seems that this all is designed for tourists over the elephants. A small step forward from elephant rides and logging but certainly not conservation.Fingers crossed that other tourists agree with me. I plan to email my views to the company and am hopeful these majestic animals get the life they deserve
Had a whole day with the elephants, feeding them and bathing with them. It is clear that they were so well cared for. The highlight was spending time with baby William who was just a few months old and seeing him breastfeeding . I fully recommend this trip. It was one of the highlights of our whole time spent in Thailand.
I did the full day elephant tour and wow, what an incredible day. After doing the classic pick up of people from hotels, you’re on your way to the first camp, the drive is 1.5 hours with a rest break after an hour at a toilet/shopping spot. Then you are given clothes and introduced to some of the female elephants who you get to feed and who are very happy for it! After this you have some fun with them, bathing them in mud before washing them off in the water. We had a lovely Thai lunch and then were off to the second camp. 30 min drive up the hill. Here we made medicine balls for the elephants which we later fed to them. We met some more female elephants and little William who is only 4 months old! We also got to bathe William and his mum and had a lot of fun playing with him in the water. We also got to take some elephants on a short walk. There are showers and toilets at both camps where you can wash off and refresh. The drive back to Chiang Mai was two hours. We had an excellent driver who drove patiently and sensibly and had a chilled playlist that helped us on the mountain roads. I’ve seen some comments on here about the concern for space for the elephants. If you could go on this trip and hear the passion behind the conservation of these elephants and how their lives have changed by living in the camp after 20+ years of manual labour or circus work, you will have nothing but admiration for the camp. The elephants are very well looked after and more than this, loved. I highly recommend this trip to anyone!
I and family was been that place for visited in Thailand .There’re so funny and very smart Elephants .
A few days ago, I had the elephant experience with Marklang, it is a small area but you can feel a good energy! Been surrounded by elephants all day was so exciting, specially with the baby one (5 months) such a blast. You can see that the elephants receive good care of their mahuts. Awesome guide “Gla” that make, my girlfriend and I, enjoy this experience.
The teams was very welcoming and Informative, the elephants seem to be well cared for. It gives you a snapshot of what can be done to help the animals. And I was very surprised of how smart they are.