Chang Puak Camp Chiang Khan

Chang Puak Camp Chiang Khan is a commercial elephant camp on the Mekong side of Chiang Khan district, Loei province — a ride-and-show operation, not a sanctuary, sold as packaged activities rather than a single admission fee.

It’s one of several branches run by the same Chang Puak Camp group, which also operates camps in Chiang Rai, Kanchanaburi, Hat Yai, and Damnoen Saduak. Each branch runs independently with its own elephants and staff, but the format is consistent across the group: a short elephant ride, a performance show, and a chance to feed and photograph the animals, with mahouts present throughout.

We don’t recommend elephant riding or performance camps, and this is one. Elephants at ride-and-show venues are broken to accept riders and perform through a training process built on early separation and fear, they’re handled with hooks between sessions, riding strains their spines, and performance is a poor substitute for space and foraging. Reviews of Chang Puak Camp branches raise the welfare concerns typical of this style of venue generally.

If you want to spend time with elephants, choose an observation-only, no-riding model instead. Our guide to ethical elephant sanctuaries in Thailand explains what separates a genuine sanctuary from a repackaged camp and lists vetted options; Elephant Nature Park near Chiang Mai is the best-known no-riding sanctuary in the north.

We keep this page so anyone searching for the camp finds an honest account rather than a sales pitch — not as an endorsement. If you’re in Chiang Khan for its own sake, the town’s genuine draws are the riverside Walking Street for wooden shophouses and evening food stalls, and the Kaeng Khut Khu rapids a few kilometres downstream.