Following Giants: an ethical elephant sanctuary in Krabi, Thailand 

Education over entertainment

Before we booked the Krabi stage of our island hopping holiday through Malaysia and Thailand I’d noticed that there were elephant sanctuaries in the area. ‘Avoid’ screamed my brain. One of the resorts I looked at booking had a sanctuary right next door and I knew that would make our girls want to visit.

My conflict was that I also wanted to see elephants, but in the right way. 

So I Googled ‘ethical elephant sanctuaries in Krabi’ and came up with one supported by World Animal Protection. 

Following Giants’ Krabi sanctuary is a 80 acre park where education is offered rather than entertainment. All the animals been rescued from performing for tourists and the logging industry. Rescue involves the sanctuary buying them from their owners – they are rarely abandoned as they are so valuable. So rescuing elephants costs tens of thousands of pounds before they even reach the sanctuary.

There were seven elephants at Following Giants Krabi when we visited in April 2025. The number has now doubled.

What makes this elephant sanctuary ethical?

There’s no touching at Following Giants. You cannot feed the elephants, bathe with them and there’s definitely no riding. We heard how all of these activities are done against the elephants’ will and, in the case of riding, causes them pain and spinal damage.

Instead visitors go on a foot safari to see the giants roaming freely, keeping a safe and respectful distance.

Our day at Following Giants in Krabi 

We were picked up by mini bus at 7.30am and after a few stops at neighbouring hotels we arrived at the sanctuary an hour later for welly boot fitting and an introductory film. 

Following Giants, which was founded in neighbouring Koh Lanta, was once an unethical sanctuary offering all the things that tourists craved for their social media feeds. They don’t shy away from this.

But a partnership formed with World Animal Protection in 2017 changed that. The founder was already doing something a bit different; offering visitors the opportunity to learn about the relationship between the elephants and their mahouts – the person closest to them. This alone did not bring in enough money to sustain the sanctuary, but the charity supported it to make the full transition to ethical experiences. 

The second Following Giants sanctuary, which we visited in Thapom Klong Song Nam in Krabi, opened in 2024.

Protected elephants, free to roam

Our introduction included a safety briefing. Elephants here are unshackled and free to roam. The only people allowed to touch or restrain them are their mahouts who wander the sanctuary with them while they graze for 18 to 20 hours a day. They are not there to make the elephants perform, but for visitors’ protection.

You can read about each elephant’s history on the Following Giants website. They have all been mistreated and have been known to hold a grudge against humans. This is why you must stay with your guide and follow their instructions throughout your visit.

All photos must be taken at a distance, but you can still capture wonderful memories.

The only time the elephants are contained is at night when they are put on a chain with a 20m area in which to forage for midnight snacks. They are also given a pile of sugar cane. If they really wanted to find other twilight snacks they could break their chains.

There’s no guarantee that you will see the elephants during your guided tour but we saw six out of the seven residents while trekking through the jungle and plantations. 

Lunch and optional extra activities

After quietly observing the elephants and exploring a small part of the sanctuary, we went to a restaurant overlooking a cleared area with mud pools. 

Here we had a watermelon smoothie and tried locally grown bananas. It wasn’t long before Marigold, a 29-year-old rescued in 2024, walked across the clearing and round to the restaurant entrance asking for her own snack. Her mahout took a few bunches of bananas and walked her away to eat them. 

We made seed balls and catapulted some ready-made ones into the clearing to create new plants for the elephants to eat.

Next was the most delicious home-cooked Thai lunch of rice, sweet and sour vegetables, fried chicken and tempura vegetables, followed by fruit and ice cream. We were stuffed.

Lunch is the end point for guests who have booked a half day tour. We stayed on for the afternoon, making elephant poo paper and going kayaking.

The Following Giants team took us a short way to Thapom Klong Song Nam where we went on a kayak tour through the salt water mangroves that are the breeding ground for barracuda. At the furthest point was a fresh water stream and waterfall where we had a swim before changing for our mini bus ride back to Ao Nang.

Our afternoon was very unhurried and in a quieter part of Krabi. It felt like a good addition for people who want to enjoy an extra outdoor activity after seeing there sanctuary. Of course if this isn’t your thing there are two other shorter programmes that focus more on the elephants. 

FAQs about Following Giants