Le Cher elephant life experience in Chiangmai

Elephants are truly the highlight of your experience in Chiangmai. We are not like other places. We have not adjusted our activities to fit the people's needs. We put our elephants first and want them to live a free life in the jungle. At Le Cher you will get QUALITY time with the elephants in their environment with their personal caretakers. Our caretakers have been for many years of experience. We know how to read and communicate with our elephants. The bond between caretakers and elephants is very special, built around mutual respect and understanding. In the past Karen elephant caretakers would live in the jungles and follow their elephants as they grazed on all the natural foods they needed. We would sleep in hammocks and listen for the bell around the elephants necks, we would only adjust their route if they were heading towards farm land, that could cause conflict. Allowing them to live a free and natural life. Drinking natural water from the rivers, foraging on a huge variety of natural foods. We ate and slept in the jungle with our elephants, moving with them. We want our elephants to be free to roam the jungles as they please and bring our customers to observe, understand and follow these incredible creatures on their journey. It's about education for us, as I have learnt over the years that most don't seem to know about the truth or have the information about the Karen community and elephants in Thailand. Nowadays elephants are sadly seen as an attraction, something for our entertainment and we want to help show our customers there is another way, a better way. Your experience with us will show you something you've never seen before. We'll educate you on what and how they eat and how they live. About their herds and matriarchy, the importance of their social bonds. You'll follow them into the jungle to observe their behaviour as well as making natural medicine balls for them to help with their digestion. Elephants are incredibly intelligent creatures, they all have different personalities and if you're lucky you'll hear them communicating. They make some incredible sounds. Trust our team if you've never had an experience with elephants or have in the past, your experience at Le Cher will be like nothing you've seen or done before. Our aim is for you to take our story and share it with others, so more people know and can continue to support a free life for elephants.

Many areas in Thailand still have groups of people who have elephants and take care of them. For us, the Karen community, we have a long-standing culture and hsitory of caring for elephants from generation to generation. The Karen Community is one of the oldest communities to care for elephants. In the past, elephants played a huge role in helping with agriculture, logging and as transportation in the wild. Currently, the availability of labour-saving machinery, more convenient roads and general modernisation has reduced the need for needing elephants for this like in the past. Coupled with the ever expanding residential and agricultural areas, the forest area is rapidly decreasing from this change. We must adapt because there is limited space for elephants and any areas there are; need to be outside of agricultural areas. We therefore need to take care of our elephants in areas where there will be no damage to the farmer's crops. And more importantly, we need to ensure that elephants are in a safe area away from agriculture due to the chemicals and human vehicles.

For us, elephants are part of our family. We are respectful to our elephants and understand the importance of them being supported and living a natural life. We can see the long-term problems in the modern world. We want to find a solution that benefits the elephants and their caretakers for the long term. Which can be harder these days due to elephant tourism. This is why us at Le Cher have created this sustainable ecotourism project. We want to show everyone how humans, elephants and nature can co-exist and live in balance together.

Visitors like you, who can see change is needed and want to support a more respectful and balanced lifestyle. Who wants to help us move forward and show others there is another way to co-exist with elephants and nature. You are the customers we are looking for. Come join us at Le Cher for an authentic environment with caretakers who truly understand and love their elephants.