Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is the first and only ethical elephant sanctuary in Phuket where elephants roam around, bathe and sozialize freely across 30 acres of lush, tropical land bordering the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park in North East Phuket. We buy all rescued elephants to ensure that Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is their final home, and we offer professional veterinary care for old and injured elephants. By visiting us, you are supporting a sustainable, ethical and compassionate approach to elephant tourism where elephants have the freedom to live naturally. National Geographic, Lonely Planet and The Guardian have all endorsed our ethical approach.
Posted By : OrianneM20
To fight against elephant abuse, choose this place. Ethics is a juicy business for other centers, which pretend to let elephants loose to better lock them up once tourists leave.
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Posted On : 2024-07-22 21:24:31 
Posted By : Tiannon W
Faultless experience. They catered for everybody. Everything was carefully thought out from the footwear to the refreshments provided. The staff were all very well informed and knowledgeable. They were very friendly, clearly very passionate and you could see how connected they were to the elephants. The whole tour was very organised and separated into smaller groups. The elephants were clearly very well taken care of. The gift shop at the end had good selection and reasonable prices. Really good value for money.
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Posted On : 2024-07-15 04:45:24
Posted By : Angela_F
This place felt pretty ethical and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to see elephants without stressing them out. The PES market themselves as rehabilitating elephants for the forest and use some other buzzwords that imply the elephants are roaming about wild-like, but the reality is that this place is more like a retirement village for old, injured, and/or disabled elephants, which is still really cool.
We were put into small (5-6 people) groups and given a tour guide to take us round the sanctuary. Our guide was FABULOUS and really knew their stuff; they gave us all the goss on every elephant we saw and were really open about the practices and procedures at PES. Our guide took us down off the walkway near some elephants who didn't seem to notice all the voyeurism as they were so busy stuffing their faces with all the food their mahouts were fetching and rolling towards them. Our guide told us the mahouts would encourage the elephants to get in the water twice daily, but we saw one elephant decide to keep eating instead of following their mahout to the water when beckoned. I can relate. The mahout then went and fetched more food instead of pressuring the little fatty to get in the water, which was nice, so there doesn't seem to be a strict schedule for each elephant.
We saw elephants walking around with mahouts following and at other times the elephants were following the mahouts. There were no bull hooks or other sharp objects in the mahouts hands. No one was ever in a rush.
Because of the trauma some of the elephants here have experienced, they don't all socialise together but some have made friends and it was sweet to see their interactions. We saw a couple of besties rolling around in the water together, who later came up to a feeding station near the restaurant where our guide gave us baskets of fruit to offer to them. Beyond accidentally touching the tip of their trunks when handing over bits of fruit, there was no touching of the elephants at all and the elephants seemed really relaxed.
Our guide explained that every elephant gets escorted to a pen for the night (very roomy, with a big pile of sand to sleep on), so there's not free roaming at all hours. I got the impression that elephants were encouraged to move around the park to different spots throughout the day to get some exercise. The one really chunky elephant is a testament to how much food is continually offered to the elephants here! It really seems like a pretty sweet place for elephants to spend their twilight years.
Our guide was also great at pointing out the elephants that needed more space (being blind or new to the park and still recovering) from afar. Because you're on the walkway you still get a good look at each elephant and get to hear their stories without feeling like you're bothering them, which is cool. The ones that came to the feeding station were clearly the more sociable ones and were very polite and patient with us tourists handing over bits of food, even while their mahouts took a break off to the side.
For humans, there was a huge range of snacks and drink available for no extra cost. Canned soft drinks, chilled fruit juice, a wide range of packaged biscuits and sliced fruit were always available. After our tour we had a couple of fancy mixed nonalcoholic drinks waiting for us along with some french fries and spring rolls while we waited for our ride home. The shop on site also has some nice swag at decent prices.
Overall, this is a great place that feels like it's taking steps in the right direction for providing respect and care to elephants that cannot be released into the wild.
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Posted On : 2024-07-14 02:03:55 
Posted By : danielsP2116XY
I highly recommend this. The care they put into taking care of these incredible animals is remarkable. The trip exceeded my expectations by far.
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Posted On : 2024-07-04 22:08:57
Posted By : Anna_M
One of our favourite trips whilst staying in Phuket. As others have said, please use this tour if you want to see elephants on your trip! The sanctuary is completely ethical and the elephants can choose if they are happy to spend time around visitors or not. Compared to some awful tours with elephants Phuket had to offer, this tour shows you how important sanctuary’s are for these beautiful animals. The tour guides are amazing, so funny and lovely and it’s clear how much they adore each individual elephant, as they tell you stories about each one. So well organised with cold towels handed out and each stage thoroughly enjoyable, you even get to feed some of the elephants who choose to come and get a snack - an incredible experience!
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Posted On : 2024-07-02 21:28:11
Posted By : janeaY7340KZ
This was an amazing experience! The guides were so informative and knew a lot about each elephant. I loved that it was ethical and all the elephants had been rescued and are being rehabilitated here. I would recommend to everyone!
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Posted On : 2024-06-27 20:50:51
Posted By : biqijacquelinet
Before booking this few-hour solo tour, I, like many others (and as everyone should do), researched the best ethical and humane options for visiting elephants.
This sanctuary is extremely well-run and informative.
They employ many well-trained local people, and everything is set up very professionally.
They have rescued elephants from camps, captivity, or other places where these amazing animals were misused or abused. These elephants roam freely here, and you feel like you are helping the animals by paying a fee to watch them in their natural habitat. It's very well done, and the staff are committed to protecting the elephants from exploitation.
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Posted On : 2024-06-24 22:50:06
Posted By : VShan_13
We visited today and had the most wonderful experience seeing and learning about elephants. Staff are so knowledgeable about the rescued elephants that they care for and shared this with the visitors. We were a mixed family group of six aged 2 to 62 but this visit suited us all. Our guide. Yaya, made sure that we were all comfortable and happy throughout while helping to maintain a safe and calm environment for the elephants.
It’s extremely well organised from transfers to clean socks, wellies and raincoats. They provide excellent clean up facilities and a really nice lunch with drinks. Staff were welcoming from start to finish and we all felt privileged to have been able to experience the tour today. Don’t miss this tour , it’s the best thing to do in Phuket.
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Posted On : 2024-06-21 11:09:56
Posted By : MaddisonTravels
Amazing experience to see the elephants in a non exploitive environment, amazing facilities and tour guide was incredible !!!
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Posted On : 2024-06-21 00:53:12
Posted By : cachingtraveler_7
The canopy walk was perfect for us. We got a good view of the elephants and being high in the air, there weren’t a lot of mosquitos. Feeding the elephants at the end was just enough time to be close to the elephants.
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Posted On : 2024-06-20 08:08:58
