Live, Learn, Ride Like a Mahout

Thai Elephant Conservation Centre

Previously a training centre of baby elephants, the place has now become the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, or the National Elephant Institute. It is considered to be the first mahout-training centre in the world, as well as an elephant hospital, in other words, Elephant Nature Park. Here, there are many veterinarians and mahouts ready to take care and provide medical care for sick and old elephants nationwide free of charge. Not only is it a research centre studying the nature of elephants, but also an attraction for tourists who want to have the ultimate mahout experience.

The Thai Elephant Conservation Centre provides homestay accommodation for tourists who are interested in the programme. Tourists will learn the techniques of elephant riding, elephant bathing, and elephant training. They will dine with mahouts and exchange experiences with them. Most importantly, they will also get to be a part of the elephant show, performed daily to visitors at the Centre. The programme starts with mahouts taking elephants to bathe and leading elephants to walk back in a row to the staging area; adorably holding each other’s tail with their trunks. The show is followed by the demonstration of logging techniques. Tourists will get to enjoy the peaceful nature through elephant riding and trekking in the forest, experiencing the lifestyle and culture of a mahout at the Mahout Village. The show will end with the demonstration of recycling elephant dung into fibre pulp, used in the production of dung paper.