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Saengduean Chailert with members of her beloved elephant family at her Elephant Nature Park. Image © Elephant Nature Park. Supplied.
Saengduean Chailert’s Elephant Nature Park
By Geoffrey Williams and Wires
Elephant Nature Park is an elephant rescue and rehabilitation centre in Northern Thailand, founded by renowned elephant rights advocate, Saengduean Chailert, known by her nickname Lek. It is the first ethical elephant sanctuary of its kind established in Asia and currently provides a caring home to many elephants from street begging, elephant riding, and circus shows, where they often sustained physical and psychological injuries. The park’s herds include blind, crippled, orphaned, and senior elephants who are now free to live a peaceful life in natural surroundings, where they are loved and respected.
Lek’s passion for elephants began at an early age when her grandfather, a traditional healer, was gifted an elephant named Thong Kham, which Lek grew to love and care for deeply. After witnessing the mistreatment and suffering of many elephants in the tourism industry, Lek began providing medical aid to elephants in remote villages. In the 1990s, Lek started rescuing injured, neglected, and elderly elephants and established Elephant Nature Park in Northern Thailand in 2003 as a permanent homeland for them.
Elephant Nature Park serves as a sanctuary and rescue centre for elephants, providing a haven for these majestic animals while advocating for ethical tourism. The park’s mission – to protect endangered animals, conserve natural resources, and promote ethical tourism practices – has resulted in the sanctuary rescuing and rehabilitating hundreds of elephants, while promoting responsible tourism practices.
Visitors to the sanctuary have the unique opportunity to interact with elephants in a responsible manner, learning about their stories and the challenges they face in captivity. The park also educates the public about the importance of protecting wildlife and promotes practices that contribute to the well-being of both animals and the environment.
Today, Elephant Nature Park is home to many elephants who live free from abuse within family herds and are allowed to develop close friendships with one another. Lek’s work has been recognised internationally, and she has received numerous awards and honours for her conservation work, including being honoured as one of six Women Heroes of Global Conservation, personally awarded the Legion d’Honneur Award by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2022, one of TIME Magazine’s Heroes of Asia, the Ford Foundation’s Hero of the Planet, and two-time winner of the Genesis Award from the Humane Society of the United States.
Want to visit?
Elephant Nature Park offers ethical half day tours, full day tours as well as overnight with full board accommodation, to stay close to the elephants at the park. Weekly stay visitors learn about elephant care and behaviour, cut grass and cornstalks for the elephants, wash and prepare fruit and other food for our herds, learn to make an elephant fruit cake, clean their shelters, help with maintenance tasks around the park, as well as with other projects designed to support the elephants. This program offers participants an enriching experience with time to observe elephants living a more natural life in an environment of respect, trust, and kindness.
Geoffrey Williams is the Founder and Publishing Curator of The Solo Traveller. Wires include international news agencies and public relations representatives, published here with The Solo Traveller editorial oversight.