Chang Puak Camp Chiang Rai

Chang Puak Camp is a commercial elephant camp on the edge of Chiang Rai town, in the Pa O Don Chai area about 20–30 minutes from the centre. Part of the wider Chang Puak Camp group (which also runs separate camps near Hat Yai and Damnoen Saduak), this branch offers elephant rides, a trained-elephant show, a crocodile show, ATV trails and organised visits to a nearby Karen long-neck village. Note this is the Chiang Rai branch specifically — a different Chang Puak Camp operates near Chiang Khan in Loei province, and the two get mixed up in reviews and search results.

Visitors typically buy an activity package: a short elephant ride around the grounds, a show in which the elephants perform tricks for the crowd, and time to feed the animals bananas and sugarcane. The crocodile show and ATV trails run as separate add-ons, and mahouts handle the elephants throughout.

We don’t recommend elephant riding or performance camps, and this is one. The reasons are well documented: elephants are broken to accept riders and perform through a training process built on early separation and fear, riding puts sustained strain on an elephant’s spine, and a life of show routines is a poor substitute for the space and foraging a captive elephant needs. Reviews of this camp are frequently negative on welfare grounds. The bundled Karen “long-neck” village visit carries its own concern — these are often run as staged human-zoo stops rather than fair community tourism.

If you want to spend time with elephants in Thailand, 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 (a separate trip from Chiang Rai, not a same-day swap).

We keep this page so anyone searching for the camp finds an honest account rather than a sales pitch — not as an endorsement.

For a genuinely low-impact outdoor option in the same district, the Mae Kok River runs bamboo-raft and longtail trips closer to town.