The best Elephant experience! Elephant Freedom Village in Thailand.

This is not an elephant sanctuary, it is a family that have coexisted with elephants for seven generations! Their home, in the hills of Karen tribe, is surrounded by a couple hundred Rai (nearly 100 acres) of tribal land, their goal is for the villagers and elephants to live together peacefully.

Our experience began when we were picked up from our apartment in Chiang Mai for the hour and a half drive into the hills. Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by the family, given traditional Karen clothes to wear and a coffee and water, while we heard about their story and how they have cared for these gentle giants for seven generations.

Afterwards, we went down to meet and feed the elephants. It was overwhelming to see them all standing there together. They were excited to see us, or at least our tasty watermelon and bananas we had for them! Then, we walked alongside the elephant family to an open area where they could feed from piles of sugarcane. They happily roamed around this area, eating, while we could say hello. I’m always apprehensive to approach an animal while they’re eating, but they didn’t seem to mind. We even fed seeds to the baby of the group, Sierra, who sucked them up like a vacuum cleaner!

We continued our walk through the forest, sometimes through steep and narrow corridors, the elephants navigating with ease. It was awesome to walk alongside them, their presence and grace is something I’ll never forget.

It was time for lunch, so we said goodbye to them for now, and continued to a lovely open hut beautifully set up with banana leaf parcels… our lunch! It was like Christmas time, unwrapping the parcels to find some delicious fried rice, chicken, and vegetables. With a spectacular waterfall view, we enjoyed the tranquillity of the rainforest while eating our lunch.

Afterwards, we met with the elephants again and wandered down to the river. This is where it got really fun! We all jumped into the river, the elephants lying down, cooling off and ready for a scrub. They blew water out of their trunks and rolled around like babies!

Once clean, the elephants emerged from the water for a quick dust bath and continued back through the forest towards home. We were told that this walk occurs twice a day and is necessary to help with digestion.

We had one last time watching the elephants feed and said goodbye, returning to the house for fruit and water.

It was sad to say goodbye. Their gentle, unique personalities touched me. The relationship that the keepers have with their elephant was wonderful to behold. I never once felt unsafe around them, even with kids.

This is a credit to the family and the generations before them that have cared for these animals so lovingly.

Elephant Freedom Village. We will return.