The Royal Elephant Kraal provides a fantastic opportunity to get really hands-on with Asian elephants. You look after a retired elephant including feeding her, riding into the river, washing and mucking out (even that is a pleasure!). The mahout and project managers give help and reassurance, as many guests have never been near an elephant before, let alone ridden on one's neck.

It was amazing to learn many things, including the incredible amount of vegetation they get through daily, how bristly the hairs on their heads are and how they love to splash about in the water. Being so close to and interacting with these amazing animals with their unique personalities, is a fascinating privilege. Highlights are many, but playing with the calves, already displaying quite strong and cheeky characters, is memorable.

A visit to ElephantStay can be purely a great holiday experience (and it was the highlight of traveling in Thailand), but it is so much more than that. You get to work alongside the mahouts and see the mutual respect and trust between them and their elephants. But most importantly you are able to contribute to the best possible retirement that these ex-working elephants could have. Being with them every day and seeing how they interacted with each other, and towards the babies, makes you realise how incredibly social and intelligent elephants are.

This is a non-profit organisation, where the people devote their lives to the well being of the elephants. The Elephant Kraal is the exact opposite of a tourist-trap, and is a win-win situation for visitors, carers and most importantly these wonderful elephants. Only 1 hour from Bangkok.