Following Giants, Koh Lanta

Following Giants is a 100% ethical elephant sanctuary located on Koh Lanta in Thailand. There is also a sanctuary located on the mainland in Krabi. Their slogan is ‘letting elephants lead the way’.

We visited in April 2024 and were amazed at the work they have done in ensuring their sanctuary is ethical and the elephants are happy.

Following Giants in the past

Sadly, Following Giants hasn’t always been an ethical elephant sanctuary. There are countless places that you can visit elephants in Thailand and many will offer activities such as riding the elephants and bathing the elephants. There has always been a big tourist demand for elephant riding and it is very profitable. In low seasons elephants would be used for physical labour such as moving logs around.

Following Giants was one of these places until the owner, Ray, met with the World Animal Protection Organisation in 2017 and began the transition to an ethical elephant sanctuary.

Why is elephant riding, bathing, touching, and feeding unethical?

It is quite obvious why elephant riding isn’t ethical. Why would an elephant want to parade around with people on its back all day everyday? It isn’t enjoyable for the elephant and it is not what the elephant would choose to do. The elephant is forced to do this because it is profitable for the owners of such places.

Another reason though is that elephants need to spend around 20 hours a day eating. Any time spent carrying people around, being bathed when they don’t want to, and being touched takes away from valuable eating time. This is why a lot of elephants in unethical sanctuaries will be underweight and small. Simply because they don’t have enough time to eat what they need to.

Becoming ethical

Following Giants is now partnered with the World Animal Protection Organisation and has a new sustainable tourist programme. There is now on and off site training for staff, infrastructure development, and continuous improvement for the welfare of the elephants living there.

Ray is now committed to ensuring that his sanctuary is 100% ethical, and that the elephants are able to lead the way. Ray’s vision is for the sanctuary to be a place where people can learn about the elephants and the jungle, and simply watch the elephants do their own thing.

Walking in the jungle with elephants

We chose to do the 2 hour walk in the jungle with the elephants. There were two different groups doing the same thing at the same time with probably 20 people in total. It cost 1500 Baht per person (around £32).

We were given an overview of the sanctuary and a safety briefing first before setting off into the jungle. It was very hot when we visited so make sure you wear suncream and take water. We were kindly given some water by the staff at the sanctuary.

Our guide led us to where two female elephants were eating. We were told these elephants are best friends and are always together. They were called Happy and Small. We watched them at a safe distance and they moved closer to us. It was made very clear that there was to be no touching and everyone listened to this. We just watched and took photographs.

It was reassuring to see that our guide was constantly monitoring the safety of the situation. Elephants are massive creatures and could seriously injure or kill you if they wanted to. Our guide would tell us when to move away and remind us not to move too quickly otherwise it would cause the elephants to run after us.

We were taken to see another female elephant called Watermelon. Watermelon was eating on her own further into the jungle. It was nice to see how much space the elephants had to roam around and do what they wanted to do.

We were then lucky to see Happy and Small bathing in the water. They had chosen to go into the water to cool off. In an unethical sanctuary they would be forced into the water and scrubbed at with a brush. We learnt that some of the pink marks on their skin were from when they were forced to be bathed.

Lastly we went to see the only male elephant at Following Giants called Kayrim. Unlike African elephants, it is only the male Asian elephants who have tusks.

How can you help?

You are able to donate to Following Giants on their website. Your money helps to look after the elephants that are there and contributes to the ongoing development on the sanctuary.

You can visit if you are in Koh Lanta or Krabi. The money you pay goes towards the care of the elephants at Following Giants. You will be able to see the great work they have done at the sanctuary and learn more about what an ethical elephant sanctuary really is.

You can either choose to do the 2 hour walk through the jungle with the elephants, a half day there or a full day.

The half day includes the 2 hour walk with elephants and you then make seed balls. You throw these into the jungles which plants food for the elephants to eat in the future. You also get a Thai meal after you have done all of this.

The full day includes everything that the half day does but you also visit a cave and a waterfall nearby to where the elephants are.

If you choose to visit a different sanctuary then make sure you really do your research beforehand. Just because they have the word ‘sanctuary’ or ‘reduce centre’ in their name it doesn’t mean they are ethical. If they allow touching, riding, bathing or feeding then they aren’t ethical.

Realising that I have visited an unethical elephant sanctuary…

One of the first places we visited when we began our trip around South East Asia was Chai Lai Orchid in Chiang Mai. This place brands itself as an ethical elephant sanctuary.

However, after visiting Following Giants I now realise that it wasn’t ethical. There was no elephant riding however people were allowed to touch the elephants and feed them. At the time I thought that was okay but now I realise that it isn’t. The elephants don’t want to be touched and messed around with. They don’t want to pose for pictures and have humans feed them. They want to go wherever they want to go and feed themselves.

I do feel some guilt about having supported Chai Lai Orchid now as they aren’t 100% ethical but it is all a learning curve. I now know what makes an elephant sanctuary ethical and I won’t make the same mistake again.