the sunshinery: Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

So we just got home a few days ago from our two-week long vacation: we visited Singapore, Chiang Mai, and Hong Kong. I love traveling and going on these magical trips; but man, there's just nothing like coming back to your own home! Now that I'm home, I'm going through the thousands (yes, thousands!) of photos we took throughout this trip. And as I was scrolling through, the ones that made me most excited were from our day at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary! So I knew this was the first thing I'd have to blog about and share with y'all.

For years I've wanted to go to Thailand and visiting an elephant sanctuary was number one on my Thailand bucket list. We made sure to do some serious research when we were looking into which sanctuary to visit. We wanted to choose a location that was ethical and kind to these beautiful animals. There are many places that offer elephant riding as part of the experience. However, these places do not treat the elephants with respect: they are grossly mistreated, and humans riding on elephants causes serious damage to their spines. So if you are planning an elephant visit, please do your research and choose a location that does not allow riding.

We decided to visit Elephant Jungle Sanctuary and we were so happy with our decision! It was clear from the moment we arrived how much these guys love their elephants and how much pride they take in the work they do. We purchased the half-day tour and found that it was plenty of time to get our fill of elephants.

Our morning started bright and early as they picked us up from our AirBnB and drove us about two hours outside of Chiang Mai to the sanctuary. After we arrived we were briefed about the elephants at our camp and a little about the work they do there. As they were talking all the elephants walked by as they came to the area for us to feed them.

Nora was the first person to touch the elephants. As our guide was briefing us, another guide was holding Nora and letting her pet the elephants as they walked by.

This gal snagged a lil snack on her way up to us :)

Once all the elephants arrived, we changed into traditional Karen clothing (the little ponchos we're wearing) and began feeding the elephants. We fed them squash, bananas, pumpkins and greens.

After feeding them, we took the elephants to the "mud spa." There we covered the elephants with mud and just had a good time getting dirty!

"Free Hugs" This guy was seriously my favorite!

Then we took another little walk to the river to wash the elephants (and ourselves!). We even got showered from an elephant's trunk!

Seriously, this was easily one of the top moments of my life. I will never forget looking into these elephants eyes - I swear when they looked at me they could see right into my soul. We will for sure be making another trip to Thailand to visit the elephants again soon. Until then, a few more of my favorite phots of the elephants that I can't stop coming back to.