We did the visit to Elephant Welfare Centre through our hotel with this company. It was 2900 bht to go and I love elephants so was very much hoping it would be a good place for them.I've written a more extensive review but TL;DR it was okay. The centre is (currently) Phang Nga Elephant Park which I wouldn't exactly call a sanctuary but they are taking decent care of the elephants. You get to feed them some fruit snacks and take a bath with them with their Mahout accompanying them the whole time (the handler who is the only person they really trust and listen to).That place is currently under construction and we were only there for 90 mins (which was quite short for the price tbh) so it's a bit hard to make a good judgement but overall they seem happy enough, well fed and no chains or hitting or riding. Mahout usually gives verbal instructions, uses the rope or maybe tugs the ear (not as keen on this but I can't suggest what else they'd do to be fair and it's much better than the alternatives people use). Seems they have been trained somewhat to follow instructions and listen to their Mahour. Not sure about the small enclosures but we were told it's for sleep and could also be to protect them from wandering into the construction and roads. Big park with lots of natural scenery so hopefully they get to walk around thatWas sceptical from reading reviews, from what I gather it was formerly not good for the elephants with rising etc. HOWEVER they have taken the feedback from customers about ethical treatment and have responded correctly by stopping these practices and caring for the elephants they had better with plenty of food, baths and pets. Still work to be done but they seem to be continuing to work to improve which is good.
Podría mejorar. Para empezar un guía que no fume hasta haciendo hiking , fumaba cada 5 min y hacía paradas a cada rato para fumar . Estaba intoxicada. Luego Ponen un precio pero después te escriben para avisarte que te van a cobrar aproximadamente $45 más si vas sol@, cuando en realidad el hotel no es es un hotel caro ($60/noche o por ahí cuando lo cotice en booking estando allí ) pero en lugar de cobrarlo de una vez , te lo cobran cuando empieza el viaje y en efectivo . Yo no andaba suficiente efectivo para pagar ese adicional y el guía se molestó por qué al regreso tuvimos q pasar a la oficina para pagar con tarjeta de crédito (como si fuera mi culpa) y no me quería dejar en mi hotel , literalmente me dijo q a mí era a la que no me daba la gana de pagar con efectivo y que me tenía que quedar sola a partir de ahí en Khao lak (a las 9 de la noche!) Obviamente que hice un desmadre y me tuvieron que llevar a mi hotel pero por el me deja tirada. Un sinsabor ..me arruinó la experiencia!!!
Expert tour from Gyg