03/05/2026
Walking with these gentle giants is a beautiful experience.
If you want to see elephants, make sure you choose a place that is ethical. Any place can call itself a sanctuary as the word is not protected, so you need to be careful. Ideally, elephants should not be forced to do forced behaviors like tricks or bathing.
Here in MandaLao elephant conservation you can walk with the elephants, but not interact with them - until the very end when you say goodbye and offer fruit.
This organization has saved elephants from logging companies, and even though they have to live in an enclosed environment partly, they are taken on long feeding walks through a designated forest area. The reason they can't roam totally free, is because the farming communities living close by. The organization tries it's best to give these elephants the best possible lives, never using punishments (like the bull hook) and at the same time give tourists an opportunity to observe these majestic animals in their natural environment.
