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Samui's Elephant Sanctuary is really an amazing place with some people who truly love what they are doing. We strongly recommend you to go and visit this place to see some "happy" rescued elephants, and not some elephants who live like slaves.
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Date of experience: February 2020
Helpful
What a wonderful, emotional, tour, please visit and support them, these elephants have all been rescued from working situations, but due to COVID they are struggling to feed them, every person that visits makes such a difference to them, the staff have dedicated their lives to these animals, giving up their own food to feed these amazing animals. Thank you to the team there for what you do, and remember don’t ever ride elephants people! Xx…
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Date of experience: July 2020
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I don't usually write TripAdvisor reviews for experiences I've had, but this one is truly worth visiting and I really recommend you do so when on Koh Samui. During our travels in Thailand, we visited three elephant sanctuaries in three different areas of the country, and this one definitely felt the most ethical and caring for these gentle giants. Upon arrival, you are split into small groups and taken around the sanctuary with a guide, who introduces you to each elephant and tells you about their life story prior to coming to the sanctuary. Unfortunately, each elephant has been through some terrible things, especially due to animal tourism (like riding on elephants' backs). It was heartwarming to see that even after all this trauma, the elephants were able to be playful again and trusting of humans. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and taught us many things, not only about elephants' living habits and biology, but most of all about the personalities and quirks of each elephant living in the sanctuary. Thereafter, we also got to see two of the elephants take a bath, which made for great photos of these majestic animals. Although this experience is a bit pricey, it is definitely worth every cent to support this organization, as well as the new sanctuary they are building close by.…
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Date of experience: June 2020
2 Helpful votes
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When you visit the elephants at Samui's first ethical sanctuary you not only get to see the elephants acting as natural as is possible, you learn and are educated so much about the history of the elephants and how they came to end up in this sanctuary. I would highly recommend a visit here to anyone visiting Samui and wanting to observe these amazing animals. …
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Date of experience: January 2020
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Amazing place. Not only do you get to see the elephants and help prepare their food, but you hear the stories of the abusive situations the elephants came from, and get to see the life they are living now. They are now unchained, no longer have to pull logs, be ridden by tourists, or abused by trekking camps. Here they are able to express natural behaviors. The staff is fantastic and dedicated to caring for these majestic animals. Definitely worth going.…
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Date of experience: March 2020
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