One of the highlights of our recent family trip to Hua Hin was the visit to the local elephant sanctuary (Hutsadin) who are working hard to rescue working elephants from mistreatment and give them a better life in older age.

You get the chance to get up close and personal with adult elephants, walking alongside them in open fields and then hose them down afterwards. About 700 baht per person and although quite a short experience (about an hour on site), for me well worth it especially as it’s all going towards the upkeep of these magnificent animals.

Cannot describe how amazing it feels to walk beside these huge yet gentle creatures and look them right in they eye whilst you feed them bananas.

Keep up the good work Hutsadin

We visited the foundation on Wednesday and we were not disappointed- it was a phenomenal experience. Our guide Dave was super friendly and knowledgeable. After doing lots of research on an ethical place to visit, we certainly found it! The elephants are so well looked after and are just amazing natured animals! If you get the chance, please go and support an absolutely amazing charity! 🐘

The elephants can take a walk and get to have a good long scratch against a tree which they really seem to enjoy. They are chained when in their "pens" which is a bit disturbing but they don't seem to exhibit the sad swaying that some captive elephants do. The handlers instruct the elephant through voice command only and the conditions of the individual "pens" were clean. This is a nice experience if you've never had an elephant encounter before.