TTM Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

Jacinta Mc Glynn continues her exclusive reports from the Thailand Travel Market for Travelbiz.

A little aside from business talks at Thai Travel Market (TTM Plus 2022), we travel to Phuket Elephant Sanctuary where we laugh and cry in equal measure. A wonderful concept to rescue old, injured and abused elephants, this lovely wild jungle park is the very happy home for elephants who perhaps didn’t have the best start in life or who were captured and trained to ‘amuse’ tourists and essentially had their spirit broken. It’s not cheap to rescue and elephant (at the lowest end of the scale, it costs approx. 25,000 euro), so every visit and donation to this great cause is well worth the effort. The stories are heart breaking, but equally heart-warming now to witness the elephants well-earned retirement with their personal Mahouts who wander with them through the lush tropical foliage, bathing in the river and crashing through bamboo and rambutan trees. Happy days!