Laos, Luang Prabang - Elephant Rides

During my visit to Lao's Luang Prabang province in September 2017, I came across many instances of tour agencies promoting elephant rides for tourists. These tours are usually marketed as educational and being part of the overall wildlife conservation efforts of the areas where these rides are offered. Besides Laos, these tourists-centric activities are also marketed throughout all the countries in Indochina, including Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

I am personally not sure of the links between such rides and the respective local wildlife conservation efforts. What I am sure of is that these rides are far from educational. Capturing and harnessing these magnificent animals to be used as tourist attractions and for rides certainly do not seem educational to me. I would prefer to see these powerful animals roam free with their herds in their natural habitats. Observing them from a distance with binoculars and studying their natural habits and herd life would fit more into what is considered educational for me . For this reason alone, I have not taken a single elephant ride wherever I travelled to since 1998. I admit that I did take an elephant ride once, in 1998 when I was visiting the Chitwan National Park in Nepal. I did not enjoy the ride and I was quite sure the elephant did not enjoy providing that ride for me too. That was the one and only time I took an elephant ride and it was enough. No more elephant rides for me ever since. :-)

I love elephants and I believe they should roam free with their herds in their natural habitats. 

Tourists enjoying an elephant ride, I am not sure if the elephant enjoyed providing the ride. Luang Prabang Province, Laos (2017)

Tourists crowding around an elephant while waiting for their turns for an "educational" ride on the animal, Luang Prabang Province, Laos (2017)

Author's Note: It should be noted that there are indeed wildlife conservations groups who rescued elephants that had been poached from the wild when they were young. These rescued elephants are so domesticated that they can no longer be rehabilitated and released back into the wild. As these wildlife conservations groups are mostly Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and self-funded, they do need funds for the upkeep of the rescue centres and the elephants and other animals they rescued. Thus, some of these NGOs had to resort to offering such rides to help raise funds for their daily operations. My advice to travellers is to donate generously to these NGOs where possible but to avoid the rides so as not to further stress the rescued elephants. Where donations are concerned, do make sure that the NGOs you donate to are accredited. This will ensure that your donations go towards actual wildlife conservation efforts.