During my daughter's forthcoming trip to Thailand she will have her 19th birthday. As her gift we have agreed that I will pay for a couple of nights at an elephant sanctuary.

I have read of several, but has anyone been to one and can you tell me a bit about it?

Thank you.

We have just come back from the Elephant Conservation Centre , 1 hr out of Chiang Mai.
You can do a day trip, but would highly recommend doing the Mahout training course- our family did the 1 night/ 2 day course and it was the highlight of our trip for my husband and kids- we all loved it.
There is an elephant hospital there too,as well as some babies.
The mahouts love their elephants and treat them well, and try to pass on some of their skills to
you, and it's a lot of fun to ride and bathe with the elephants.
Have a look at their website.

There are only two that are considered to have excellent care for the elephants, and the Elephant Conservation Center is one. Look for KimJapan's report on it. Her daughter had a fabulous time there with the mahout training!

A second vote for the Elephant Conservation Center. We had a great couple of days there for the mahout training. Their website is www.changthai.com. (chang is Thai for "elephant&quot

Third vote for the Elephant Conservation Centre. Excellent care for the elephants. Although we did not do the mahout training, we had a wonderful day. Happy travels!

Thank you - that looks wonderful and just what she wants.

There are only two that should be supported -- Elephant Conservation Center is one and Elephant Nature Park is the other.

They actually care about the elphants. The others are commercial enterprises and should be avoided.