Our FAVORITE Elephant Sanctuary in South East Asia!
60% of the wild Elephant population in Laos has been decimated within the last 30 years. Check out this video to get a better idea of what to look for in a sanctuary and how you can help rebuild the population!
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LAOS - Luang Prabang #2 - MandaLao - non riding elephant experience
* Deutsch ** English *** Espanol
* LAOS, einst das Land der Millionen Elefanten, leider sind jedoch
aktuell nur noch ca. 1300 übrig. MandaLao ist eine Organisation, die
sich dem Wohle, Schutz und Aufzucht dieser tollen Tiere annimmt
und sich durch non riding experiences von Touristen finanziert.
Dies sind u.a.Wanderungen durch Wald um die Elefanten in ihrer
natürlichen Umgebung zu begleiten und zu beobachten. Eine
wirklich tolle und sehr empfehlenswerte Erfahrung nur eine kurze
Fahrt von LuangPrabang.
** LAOS once the country of the million elephants, nowadays only
approx. 1.300 elephants are left. MandaLao is an organization,
dedicated to the well-being, protection and raising of this fantastic
animals. Financed by non riding experiences with tourists, which
are walks through their natural habitat to join and watch them. A
real adventure and fantastic experience, absolutely
recommendable and only a short drive from LuangPrabang.
*** LAOS una vez el pais de los millones elefantes, ahora solo con
1.300 vivientes. MandaLaos es una organización, que se dedica
del bienestar, de la protección y recria de estos animales
maravillosas, financiado de los non riding experiences de los
turistas. Estos experiencias son aventuras como caminatas en la
selva para ver y vivir los elefantes en su habitat natural. Una
experiencia fantástica y muy recommendable, ademas solo und
pequeño paseo lechos de LuangPrabang.
Mandalao: Offering the best in elephant welfare
Vientiane Times – Elephants are the largest animals in Laos and there were a lot of them in years past but now they are quite rare, especially in the wild.
But elephants are a great tourist attraction and visitors love riding on them and touching them.
Mandalao is a new elephant conservation centre in Luang Prabang, and is a 25-minute drive outside the town.
This centre is dedicated to the conservation of elephants and is the first and only non-riding elephant experience in Laos. But you really get a true feel for the elephants and are able to touch them.
When you arrive, you will be given a cup of coffee at a restaurant close to the Nam Khan river where you can get a great view over the river and the hills, and observe the locals nearby.
This is also where you’ll be briefed by wildlife experts about the elephants and what goes on at Mandalao.
After a while, you will take a boat across the river, taking along some sugarcane or sweetcorn to feed the elephants on the other side.
If it’s early enough you will see eight female elephants and a very young male. Each of them has a name, given by their first owner.
You can then touch two of the elephants and feed them the sweetcorn and sugarcane.
You can get very close to the great animals although of course to begin with you might feel rather scared as they are very large and powerful beasts.
But after a few minutes you will want to get closer and closer and then feel safe because they are really friendly and have been taught how to communicate with people.
After that you go to the river with the elephants where you will help them to bathe.
When the elephants are ready you will hike with them into the forest. You will pass the villagers’ sweetcorn plantations, which grow the crop especially for the elephants. And if you’ve booked a trip for the whole day you will also visit a Hmong or Khmu village.
Elephants never stop eating if food is available because they need at least 200 kilos of food a day. Mandalao feeds them 100 kilos and they forage for the other 100kg themselves.
During the hike, you will see elephants eating the sweetcorn from the farms that have been paid to grow the crop, just two metres from the roadside.
When you enter the forest, the elephants will walk through a small river and you can walk on the riverbank. Here you’ll feel very much in touch with nature. You observe the elephants walking through the forest with nothing on their backs and you really feel they are wild and independent creatures.
We talked with two elephants – Mother Bounpheng and Mother Kham. Mother Bounpheng was quite active and always wanted something to eat. Mother Kham was very quiet and would eat only when we gave her something, but both animals were very friendly.
After some hours of hiking with the elephants, you will return to the restaurant where freshly prepared food awaits.
All the elephants look healthy because they get enough food and are not used for work.
Mandalao cofounder Michael Vogler said Mandalao got started in November 2016.
“I’m one of the cofounders and owners of the elephant sanctuary,” he said.
The sanctuary covers about 200 hectares of land which the elephants use as their eating area and it provides 50 per cent of their diet. It’s important that they are well fed and happy.
Michael first came to Laos in 2011. “My background is in wildlife conservation. I find Laos to be an incredibly intriguing place. I came back about four years later with one of my friends and we decided we wanted to move to Laos, so we considered ecotourism, trekking and elephant conservation,” he explained.
They went to one of the other so-called elephant sanctuaries in Luang Prabang but thought it did not really seem like a natural habitat.
To start with, the friends thought they might just get a couple of elephants from a logging camp and do some trekking through the jungle.
They didn’t know too much about elephants but they knew they wanted to take care of them in the right way and not offer rides but just have people walk beside them.
“That’s really what separates us from any other camp in Luang Prabang. We focus really on overall welfare. We want the elephants to be healthy, well fed and well looked after,” Michael said.
A couple of years ago he was very fortunate in meeting a man who had worked with a Thai elephant conservation centre, and asked him to come to Mandalao.
Prasop Tipprasert, a wild animal expert, said he was very happy to work at Mandalao because on his first visit to Laos he heard some shocking facts about elephant conservation from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Laos.
“In my childhood I learnt that Laos was a place that once had a million elephants and was sometimes called Lao Lane Xang. But by 1980 Laos had just 3,000 elephants and in 2009 the number dropped to 1,200 elephants and had now dwindled to less than 1,000,” he said.
Full article:
Vientiane Times/Patithin Phetmeuangphuan
MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary Laos - Feeding & Bathing the Elephants
Laos - the Land of a Million Elephants.
I was so excited to see, touch and feed an elephant up close… but in reality it was so different… the elephant approached me naturally with no fear as though I was one of them...maybe I was?
It was a deeply satisfying and enjoyable Elephant Encounter with Mandalao Tours in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Read the full story here:
MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary Laos - Jungle Walk with Elephants
Ever been for a hike with an Elephant?
For a whole day we hung out in the jungle with these two majestic elephants by our side.
Thanks to Mandalao Tours for the highlight of our trip to Laos.
Read the full story here:
Around the World in 80 Days: DAY 49 MandaLao Elephant Conservation Luang Prabang, Laos with Kids
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Trekking With Giants at MandaLao Elephant Conservation in Laos
Laos was once known as the Land of a Million Elephants. Sadly, due to poaching, logging and war, the current population stands at a mere 400-or so wild elephants. As tourism to Laos continues to grow, as has the number of elephant entertainment venues that provide elephant rides for tourists. The good news is that there are a handful of elephant conservation-focused organizations in Laos working hard at promoting ethical elephant interaction experiences.
Read on for my incredible experience at MandaLao Elephant Conservation in Luang Prabang:
Mandalao Elephant Conservation - Half Day Program
Highly recommended ecotourism - Mandalaos Elephant Conservation is the first of its kind in Luang Prabang, Laos where the elephants roam freely with no hooks, no chains and most importantly, no riding.
TRAVEL DIARY | saving elephants in laos!
A week in Luang Prabang, Laos, soaking up the SE Asian culture and most importantly, helping to spread awareness about one of the only ethical ecotourism elephant sanctuaries in the region called MandaLao. At MandaLao, there's no riding or forced elephant interaction. An observational, educational method is used instead, bringing people closer to elephants while still maintaining respect for these wild animals. Check out some of my work from this trip on my IG (instagram.com/blackprints) - If you guys wanna learn more about this amazing sanctuary and how you can help preserve Lao jungles and save these elephant beauties, head to bit.ly/LoveLaoElephants :)
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The Last Elephant Mahout in Laos
MandaLao Elephant Conservation preserves and protects both domesticated elephants and those who remain in the wild. More at
Producer and Director of Cinematography Tania Esteban
MandaLao Elephant Conservation
Starring Vee and Mae Mahn
Video brought to you by the Travel and Tourism Foundation ( and Travelindex (
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Around the World in 80 Days: DAY 50 MandaLao Elephant Conservation Luang Prabang, Laos with Kids
▶ We've been traveling around the world with kids!!
Follow us on Instagram, Youtube & Facebook: @RetiredToddlers
Want to know how we're able to travel the world and still earn a living? I've built a business that allows me to not only share my knowledge of traveling the world with kids but also help people to make healthier choices in their lives by choosing cleaner, safer products.
Learn more about how I've done this:
Request free samples of some of my favorite products here and see for yourself why I love this business:
#Mandalao Elefant Sanctuary Camp Luang Prabang
Elefantbaby struggles
Feeding Elephants at Mandalao Luang Prabang Laos
We were recently in Luang Prabang, Laos and we heard about an elephant sanctuary that is an actual sanctuary, unlike many of the SE Asian businesses which use elephants as a tourist attraction and just have sanctuary in their name.
At Mandalao, up to four people a day are allowed to have an up-close interaction with a handful of their elephants. The elephants aren't required to interact, but I'm pretty sure they are only given bananas and sugar cane during the interactions. So, they aren't forced to do anything, but if they want the good stuff, they have to play along.
Anyway, Mandalao is run by a man who has worked with elephants for many years and who is passionate about ending the use of elephants for work. His plan is for the elephants currently living in his care to be released into the wild.
During our interaction, we passed several loggers using elephants, so I'm not sure how realistic his vision is. Elephants who have become accustomed to humans and being fed bananas and sugar cane seem like easy pickings for a logging company.
Our guides were very knowledgeable and were clearly trying to balance letting us get as close as possible with maintaining a safe distance from large, strong, unpredictable animals. We walked for a couple of kilometers along farm paths and along a stream, and, as we walked, we learned about the local elephant industries of logging and tourism.
After our walk, we were fed a delicious meal comprised of a variety of local foods, some vegetarian, some meat, and rice cakes (similar to Japanese mochi, but made with coconut milk.)
Overall, it was a fun experience, but a fairly pricey one at USD$130 per person (half by card to make a booking, half in cash on the day), but the money goes toward the care of the elephants: food, medical care, land, etc.
Elephant Conservation in Laos | Manda Lao
A morning spent with three wonderful elephants.
Manda Lao is a conservation program that helps humans interact with elephants in the right way -
Music by Niklas Ahlström – Style
MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary Meet the Elephants
Meeting Elephants face to face, eye to eye is something you must do at least once if not more in your lifetime...we found the perfect sanctuary that respects and understands elephants, at the same time giving the visitor a wonderful experiences without forcing the elephant into unnatural behaviours.
And so it was; at MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary in Laos we began our intimate journey of discovery into the almighty and magical elephant...
It was a once in a lifetime experience...
Read the full story here:
Save the Elephants of Laos!
A walk with elephants
A tour at the Mandalao Elephant Sanctuary, Luang Prabang, Laos. December 2019
象と歩くツアーinラオス／A walk with elephants in Laos.
ラオス・ルアンパバンで、保護センターの象と一緒に森を歩く半日ツアーに参加しました。
森の中を歩く象の足音と、耳をはためかせる音、象の表情が素敵です。
A half-day walk with elephants tour at MandaLao Elephant Conservation center at Luang prabang, Laos.
★この日の日記→鉢と象散歩とカオピヤックセン／ラオス・世界遺産の街ルアンパバーンDAY2
★2019年1月末~2月ラオス旅
MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary Laos - Goodbye Elephants
All good things come to an end, after a wonderful day at
MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary it's time to say goodbye to our companions who now head off deeper into the forest to continue feeding for the night. If you find yourself in Laos check in with Mandalao Tours
Read the full story here:
Luang Prabang elephant sanctuary