Welcome to Hidden Forest Elephant Reserve
Your ethical elephant sanctuary in Phuket
We are a genuine ethical elephant sanctuary in Phuket, co-founded by elephant experts P'Kong from Thailand, and Louise Rogerson from Manchester, UK. P'Kong is one of the most experienced and respected elephant specialists in Thailand, and Louise has been rescuing and rehabilitating Asian elephants since 2010, advocating for improved welfare standards, and brought the first non-bathing project to Phuket in 2016.
Hidden Forest was opened in December 2023 and our stunning forest is nestled in the hills of Chalong, southern Phuket. We are home to 10 beautiful elephants who previously worked in the logging, riding and bathing industries. Along with high welfare standards, our key focus is to socialise our elephants into natural herds and rebuild the social bonds they were denied for most of their lives.
Our sanctuary is peaceful and we keep our visitor groups small. You will enjoy an unforgettable experience - feeding our elephants respectfully, learning about, and observing as they roam, bathe, socialise and play freely. Each tour finishes with a delicious Thai vegetarian / vegan buffet at our Forest Restaurant overlooking the ponds where the elephants cool off and throw mud over themselves in our free-roaming area.
We look forward to welcoming you into the beautiful world we have created for these magnificent animals we are dedicated to protecting.
Take A Quick Tour Before You Book
Proudly listed and endorsed by World Animal Protection and Responsible Travel
Visit our beautiful elephant reserve in Chalong,
Southern Phuket
-
35 minutes from Patong
-
25 minutes from Karon and Kata
-
25 minutes from Phuket Town
-
20 minutes from Rawai
-
15 minutes from the Big Buddha
We are a genuine ethical elephant sanctuary
Our elephants are free to roam, socialise, and play naturally in the ponds, streams, and muddy wallows across our forested land, giving them a life they once could only dream of. Learn more about what makes Hidden Forest Elephant Reserve an ethical elephant sanctuary.
After a short introductory video, you will meet and respectfully feed our elephants (no hugging or touching) before setting off on a scenic forest walk. Along the way, you can relax in our Bamboo Observation Huts placed throughout the sanctuary, where you can sit quietly and observe the elephants as they go about their day.
Our tours are peaceful and slow - we don't rush. While some projects fill their tours with additional activities, we take a different approach. For the full duration of your morning or afternoon tour, you will simply be with the elephants - fully immersed and present in their world. It's precious time for you to unwind and de-stress, and enjoy all that nature has to offer.
Our sanctuary is also a safe haven for an abundance of wild birds with daily sightings of eagles soaring the skies, egrets swooping to the pond, and butterflies and dragonflies dancing in the breeze. You will also meet our rescued cats and dogs, our white geese - Grace and George, and our beautiful brown swan geese, William and Robert!
Why We Don't Let Guests Bathe With Our Elephants
In 2016, our co-founder, Louise Rogerson, introduced Phuket’s first non-bathing elephant experience. She firmly believes that elephants should be able to enjoy bathing and playing freely without humans crowding around them.
Bathing freely provides positive mental and physical stimulation, particularly after a lifetime of hard work and human control. In the wild, elephants bathe in rivers, ponds, streams and muddy wallows without human interaction - and this is exactly what our rescued elephants should be able to enjoy too.
Elephants need space to splash, roll, submerge, play, socialise and cover themselves in mud. They are perfectly capable of doing this without people in the water or mud. Having people around them can inhibit their natural behaviours and mahouts must manage and control the elephants to keep everyone safe. There are also hygiene concerns, as elephants naturally urinate and defecate in the water.
Bathing with elephants does not put elephant welfare first, which is why we do not offer this activity at Hidden Forest. Our priority is ensuring our elephants enjoy their day just as much as our guests do.
The video of Ton Oi really says it all! Imagine if there were people in the water with her. She wouldn't have the freedom to wade through the pond, fully submerge herself, play with the reeds and roots, or chase away the wild egrets!
You may also notice the silence in our video. There aren't crowds of noisy people bathing with her or rubbing mud onto her. Instead, there are simply the natural sounds of the forest…
This is what freedom looks like. ❤️
Our 3 Most Recent Elephant Rescues
6 June 2025 - Wan Mai
25 January 2026 - Pearl
11 February 2026 - Fah Sai
Since we opened in December 2023, we have rescued a total of 11 elephants.
We rely entirely on income from our tours to sustain our sanctuary, our elephants, their food and daily care, and to make future rescues possible. Thanks to the incredible support of our visitors, our elephants now have a safe, loving and permanent home, and we are truly grateful to everyone who visits us.
Below is the rescue video for Wan Mai (meaning “A New Day” in Thai), whom we welcomed in June 2025. She is 59 years old and had a hard life working in the logging and riding industries. When she arrived, she was very scared and emaciated. However, with time and patience, she slowly integrated into the herd and became best friends with Wassana, Nong Fai and Boon Yen, and she now enjoys her freedom in the forest every day.