Elephants in Southeast Asia
Herds of Asian elephants once roamed right across mainland Southeast Asia as well as several of the larger islands of the Indonesian Archipelago, from the temperate forests of Yunnan in southern China to the tropical jungles of Sumatra and Java and from the Indian Ocean coast in the west to the South China Sea in the east. Elephants in Southeast Asia are today, however, much reduced across their range. In several areas, they are now extinct, in others, critically endangered, yet certain areas are still home to relatively populous herds. Thailand, in particular, also has a significant population of domesticated pachyderms.
Below is a brief country-by-country rundown on both kinds of elephants in Southeast Asia, in addition to indications of the likelihood, or otherwise, of seeing them in the wild. Additionally, we’ll list which elephant sanctuaries we’ve seen fit to include on our various Southeast Asian tours.
Note that, for now, we’re only including destinations that are covered by our tours and Yunnan and Burma/Myanmar are beyond the scope of this post, while, due to lack of space, we’ll feature Sri Lanka in a separate post.
Wild Elephants in Southeast Asia
This includes Asian, or Asiatic elephants (Elephas maximus), found in Cambodia, Laos, West Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam as well as the so-called Borneo pygmy elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis), which inhabits the island of Borneo and the lesser-known Sumatra subspecies Elephas maximus sumatranus.
Unlike the majority of their African cousins, elephants in Southeast Asia live in forest areas, or at least grasslands adjacent to forests, so their numbers and range today are entirely dependent upon the existence of suitable habitats. The main threat to elephants in Southeast Asia is therefore habitat loss, while today, conflict with farmers is potentially more of an issue than poaching, as, unlike African elephants, no females and only certain males possess tusks. Most Southeast Asian governments have taken steps to control the ivory trade, so while no one would claim that poaching has been completely eradicated, it is thankfully less of a problem than in previous times.
Domesticated elephants in Southeast Asia
The Asian species of elephant, considered more docile than the larger African variety, has been domesticated for hundreds, if not thousands of years, both as a mount for kings and nobles as well as a beast of burden. They also formed an essential arm of ancient military forces and feature in numerous battle scene reliefs on the temples of Angkor, for instance. They were the tanks or heavy armour of their day, while they were also employed in the construction of said temples by dragging heavy stones from quarries. In later times, they performed more ceremonial roles, again for the military, nobles and royalty.
Relief depicting Angkorian warriors mounted on war elephants. Phanom Rung, Thailand With the subsequent arrival of Europeans and the explosion of the teak industry, they were also widely used in the forests of northern Thailand and Laos for logging. (A few individuals still performed such functions into recent times on small, unmechanised plantations.) This explains the large numbers of domesticated animals today in areas such as Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, and while they undoubtedly fulfilled similar roles in tropical forests further south, it was apparently not to the same extent. Today, relatively small numbers of domesticated elephants remain in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and almost none in Malaysia.
Protection from hunters, good diets and veterinary care mean that, firstly, they often have longer lifespans and secondly, they may reproduce faster than in the wild. Great for the elephants, but that does lead to large populations of domesticated elephants, which are expensive to feed and care for. (The ‘catching wild creatures in the forest’ videos that we’ve seen posted by the well-meaning but error-prone PETA, for example, are undoubtedly isolated incidents from decades ago, as there are simply too many of them already living in camps and sanctuaries as it is.)
Experts point out (we’d cite Nick Marx, the director of Cambodia’s Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre), that domesticated elephants – many of whom have lived in captivity for generations – are notoriously difficult to rehabilitate into the wild. Furthermore, suitable areas in which to release them are not always available. (Many protected areas already have optimal populations and too many wild elephants in a given area create problems.)
Old-style elephant camp near Chiang Mai, which generally offered riding and rafting combinations, while others included gimmicks such as elephants painting or playing football Elephants in Cambodia
The population of wild elephants in Cambodia is estimated at between 4 and 600, principally concentrated in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri in the northeast and the Cardamom Mountains of the southwest, although certain national parks are not well researched and the higher figure of the two is probably more accurate. Although numbers are hardly huge, Cambodia is a small country and the present population is stable. With such a relatively small population, we’ve never seen one in the wild and the casual visitor is very unlikely to do so.)
The domesticated population represents a tiny fraction of neighbouring Thailand (said to be some 75 creatures in total), although there are several sanctuaries caring for former working elephants. We can’t comment on all of them, but Elephant Valley in Mondulkiri is an excellent project, while we include visits to the well-run Kulen Elephant Forest in Siem Reap Province, which cares for the animals that used to give rides to visitors at Angkor. (Said rides were stopped several years ago now.)
The aforementioned Phnom Tamao Centre features on our Beyond Angkor tour and 4-day mini-tour, Kep, Kampot and Takeo, while the Kulen sanctuary is also included on Beyond Angkor as well as our Cambodia and Thailand family tour.
Elephants in Indonesia
Although remnant populations in Sumatra are today well-protected, numbers are much reduced and they are considered endangered, while officially extinct in Java. Kalimantan also has a small population of Borneo pygmy elephants. The Sumatran population isn’t very accurately recorded, but appears to be around 2000 or so, mainly in Aceh and the northern part of the island. Gunung Leuser is estimated to hold 300 or so individuals, although in such a vast region of dense forest, casual visitors are very unlikely to come across any. The domesticated population is estimated to be some 3-400, again, mainly in camps in the north. As such camps are rather off the main tourist trail for foreign visitors to Sumatra, we’d assume they cater mostly to domestic tourists. We therefore don’t include any on our Indonesian tours and would be somewhat sceptical about how well-run they are.
Koh Chang; the mahouts take the young elephants for an end of day swim Elephants in Laos
Although once known as the Kingdom of 1 Million Elephants, Laos today records a paltry 3 to 400 or so wild individuals, with a similar number of captive ones. (However, estimates of both do vary considerably.) Wild elephants are mainly limited to remote areas of the Annamite Mountains, along with small herds in the far south and extreme north, while elephant camps and sanctuaries are concentrated in Sayaboury Province in the west. Bordering Thailand, this was formerly an important region in the teak industry. (This link has an elephant distribution map for Laos, although we wouldn’t guarantee its accuracy.)
The Lao government, in collaboration with various NGOs, is making efforts to protect existing herds and increase numbers, but that is dependent upon protecting dwindling forest land and intentions and projects are not enough on their own.
With such low numbers surviving in very remote regions, there is zero chance of spotting a Lao elephant in the wild, and while we believe some progress has been made of late in the management of sanctuaries and camps in line with Thai set-ups, Sayaboury Province does not fall into any of our existing Lao itineraries. We did used to visit a camp in Kiet Ngong Village on the southern side of the Boloven Plateau in south Laos, but the resident pachyderms have since been relocated.
A common sight on Perak’s Highway 4 between Grik and Jeli Elephants in Malaysia
According to details we dug up, West Malaysia is home to between 1,223 and 1,677 Asian Elephants, with an additional 2,000 plus Borneo Pygmy elephants in Sabah State. No figures for Sarawak were available. The, at the same time very precise but extremely vague, figures for West Malaysia suggest around 1500, which isn’t a bad total for what is a relatively small area. These are concentrated in the state and national parks such as Belum, Kenong Rimba, Taman Negara and Endau Rompin. (Again, the Researchgate site has an interesting map of past and present populations.) The former is included in our Malaysia family tour and elephants are a relatively common sight along Highway 4, which traverses the region as well as occasionally venturing into the garden at the Belum Rainforest Resort.
The Department of Wildlife and National Parks keeps a handful of domesticated elephants, which we’re informed are used to help relocate wild ones, which have strayed too far from the protected areas.
Mae Wang, Chiang Mai, Thailand Elephants in Thailand
As with all of the above, estimates vary considerably, but we’d suggest around 3 to 3,500 wild elephants in Thailand with a slightly smaller number of domesticated ones. Significantly sized herds are found in larger national parks and wildlife sanctuaries right across the country, from Khao Yai and the Eastern Forest Complex to Thung Yai, Huay Kha Kheng and the vast Western Forest Complex along the Burmese border and Kaeng Krachan, Khao Sok and Hala Bala national parks of the Peninsula. Khao Yai features on our Emerald Triangle and Thailand World Heritage tours, while Khao Sok is included in our South Thailand and Thailand family tours.
Elephant sanctuaries are also commonly found at popular destinations across the kingdom, in particular Chiang Mai, which was one of the centres of the 19th and early 20th-century teak industry. Most of the old elephant camps with their rides and shows have now reinvented themselves as ethical sanctuaries, so most no longer offer rides, many now don’t allow bathing with elephants and the majority of visits today consist of walks with elephants and perhaps participation in food preparation and feeding. The bottom line remains that, as we stated, elephants are expensive to keep and there are a lot of mahouts, as well as a vet and miscellaneous staff to pay, and these places do need to attract visitors and they do need to make money.
Elephant riding in Vietnam’s Yok Don National Park in 2004 Elephants in Vietnam
Last and unfortunately very much least in terms of elephants in Southeast Asia is Vietnam. Remaining populations of wild elephants are thought to number around 100, located mainly in Yok Don and Cat Tien National Parks. Yok Don has a well-run ethical elephant camp which is the only one we’re aware of in Vietnam however the park, situated in the Central Highlands’ Dak Lak Province, along the Cambodian border, is very remote and does not conveniently fit into any of our current Vietnam tour itineraries.
One anecdote we’ve come across – although we have no idea if it’s true – is that during the Vietnam War, US pilots considered elephants a legitimate target as they were used to transport supplies up the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Yok Don National Park does include some 1200 square kilometres of protected forest and connects with similar protected areas across the border so there is plenty of room for improvement.
