More than 100,000 Asian elephants may have existed at the start of the twentieth century, but only some 35,000 to 50,000 now remain in the wild
Source : IUCN Species Survival Commission's Asian Elephant Specialist Group

The Asian Elephant is officially classified as highly endangered. There are as few as 50,000 elephants remaining and both wild and domesticated elephants face grave threats to their existence. The major threats to Asian elephants are loss of habitat and the resultant human-elephant conflict.  Asian elephants are disappearing from vast areas where they were once plentiful. Ban Kwan Chang Elephant Camp was set up to help combat this frightening statistic by giving retired show and logging elephants a safe and comfortable sanctuary. Ban Kwan Chang is supported by the Asian Elephant Foundation.

Ban Kwan Chang is only a 5 minute walk from Jungle Way, and is a truly marvelous experience, something not to be missed when you visit Koh Chang.

The camp offers a half-day elephant trekking tour from 8.30am to 11:00am, which includes elephant bathing, feeding, performance and a 1.30 hour elephant trek into the forest. The cost is 900 Baht and includes water and bananas (to feed the elephants) as well as hotel transfer if you are not staying with us at Jungle Way. A shorter 35-minute trek with a 15 minute performance is also available for 450 Baht. The camp is a sanctuary for its elephants, and as such, performances are not mandatory for elephants, and are only given by those that were previously trained to perform.

During elephant treks, which your mahout (or elephant keeper) will lead, expect to stop at numerous points so the elephants can feed on the dense foliage. It becomes immediately obvious that an elephant on a trek is a happy elephant as it has access to plants and food it would not normally have at the camp!

There are about six elephants of varying ages and personalities at Ban Kwan Chang, and their mahouts (several speak English) show a deep devotion and respect to their own elephants. There is also a lot of written information available at the camp. Even if you aren't game for a ride on an elephant, you can buy bananas at the camp and feed them to the elephants while enjoying the jungle views.

A great charitable project is the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project, of which, our very own Jintara is one of the elephant artists. Elephant artwork is sold to raise funds for the conservation of Asian Elephants, with 30% of the sale going directly back to the elephant that created the painting. The money raised by Jintara goes toward providing Ban Kwan Chang elephants with additional food, proper veterinary care, and improved shelter. More...

Bookings

Jungle Way can make all bookings and enquiries to the Elephant Camp during your stay. We are also happy to include an elephant trek as part of our treks. More...

Endangered (IUCN)