How to Visit Koh Samui Elephant Sanctuary - Up Close Encounters to Remember

 The Koh Samui Elephant Sanctuary will help you to learn more about the amazing mammals, as you enjoy up-close and personal encounters, feeding, petting and being near the gentle mammals. This article will update you on everything you need to know about visiting and enjoying your time at the Koh Samui Elephant Sanctuary.

Image by Zachtleven fotografie from Pixabay 

The Elephants of the Koh Samui Elephant Sanctuary

 As you start your visit inside the sanctuary, you will first be given an introduction to the place with a video presentation covering the history of the sanctuary as well. The briefing is thorough and interesting, listing facts and numbers in relation to the elephants there. Included is a brief of staying safe when exploring and interacting with these gentle mammals. Make sure to listen and follow the guidelines given, as they are put in place to ensure your safety.

• Do not approach the elephants from an angle they cannot see you (the back). Your sudden appearance will startle them and cause them to react badly.
• Let the animal approach you, but do be mindful of your feet as the elephant approaches you.

At this point, it’s important to add that those of you travelling to Koh Samui with the family will find the elephant sanctuary one of the best places to visit with your children. Plus, choosing a Koh Samui family resort that caters to your every need is easy with many international chain hotels having resorts such as Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort located on the island.

 Feeding the Elephants at the Sanctuary

 Once your briefing is done, you can get right to enjoying your day with the elephants. You will most likely start off with a feeding session because elephants are always hungry. An elephant will require food up to 3 times its weight, hence an average 3 or 4-ton animal can eat quite a lot – including snacks, which you will provide in the form of boiled rice, grains as well as soft bananas. The sanctuary will provide you with all this, which you must mashup in a big bowl, roll into balls, and then coat with flour. And then it’s time to feed the eager recipients. Once you go up to the fence separating the elephants from you, they will quite eagerly, stretch their trunks out for the sticky treats. Place one of the banana balls in their trunks and watch as they curl their trunks around them and then pop them right in their mouths.

 On your feeding rounds, you are sure to come across a variety of elephants. Big, small and friendly. Many will have background stories and physical scars to compound some. For example, elephants who were once used for logging will have big tears in their ear from the billhooks used by the mahouts to control the animals. Others will have interesting stories too – take the time to get to know the creatures and understand their docile temperament when left unthreatened.

 Go on in and Meet the Elephants

 Once you’re are done with the feeding session, you get to duck behind the fence. You will go bearing gifts – actually it’s more snacks! The elephants will come to meet you and will soon be competing with each other about who gets the next banana. The interaction is a lovely way to further compound the gentle nature of these giant creatures, and you will not enjoy a better time than having them vie for your attention and a chance to get their trunks into that big bag of bananas. While there, talk to the people who run the sanctuary and you will discover that rescuing the elephants is an expensive task. In order to convince loggers and tour operators to sell their animals, the sanctuary must be prepared to pay the asking price, which is very steep. A female adult will cost around US$ 30,000 or even more while feeding the animals too is a pricy business. You support the sanctuary by paying for your tickets, but other forms of contributions too are welcome, all you have to do is ask.