Riding an elephant is not consuming an animal. When you sit behind a mahout and move through the forest at the elephant’s pace, you are a guest invited into a Living-Zone.

Showing respect is not keeping your distance from that relationship. It is entering it with restraint, attentiveness, and responsibility.

What is the Living-Zone?

At Manifa, the Living-Zone is the sphere of life where elephants, mahouts, forest, and visitors are not separate entities, but exist within the relationships that sustain each other’s lives.

Here, the elephant’s pace, appetite, physical condition, and behavior shape the day’s activities. The mahout reads these signs through years of shared experience and responds with the necessary care and judgment. The forest provides the space for the elephant to walk, forage for natural food, rest, and spend time with other elephants.

Visitors, too, do not observe this relationship from afar. They enter it temporarily with restraint, attentiveness, and responsibility, and through that participation, support the elephant’s care, the mahout’s livelihood, and the forest’s maintenance.

The Living-Zone is not a pre-existing harmony. It is a relationship rebuilt daily through observation, judgment, adjustment, rest, and care. Elephant riding is not an isolated tourism service detached from this; it is situated within the ongoing life shared by elephant, mahout, and forest.

Our Three Commitments

When planning each elephant’s daily activities, we adhere to the following three commitments. These are the standards that keep the Living-Zone from remaining mere philosophy, and allow us to uphold and nurture it in our daily practice.

1. Individually Adjusted Light Load
   At Manifa, one mahout and one guest typically ride directly on the elephant’s back without a saddle. With only two people and no saddle, the combined weight is usually less than 5% of the elephant’s body weight. When a wooden saddle is used, the total weight including saddle, mahout, and guest is kept within 10%. If any sign of fatigue, discomfort, or unusual behavior is observed, the day’s schedule is altered.
2. Balance Between Activity and Rest
   Activities including riding typically take place from around 9:30 AM to around 3:00 PM. Depending on the elephant and the day’s program, participation occurs intermittently within a period of approximately 2 to 5 hours, with breaks in between. At least 15 minutes of rest is provided for every hour of activity, with access to water during breaks. Riding is suspended when the temperature reaches 38°C.
3. 3. Daily Forest Walking, Natural Foraging, and Time with Herd Every elephant has time to walk in the forest, search for natural food such as grass and tree leaves, and spend time near other elephants. Activities with guests are only one part of a long day composed of movement, foraging, rest, and social interaction with other elephants.

A day shared by elephants and mahouts

The life shared between elephant and mahout does not begin and end with the short time visitors spend with them.ctares of forest for the elephants. Forests on neighbouring privately owned land may also be used, giving the elephants access to a much larger living landscape than the visitor area alone.

Morning, before guests arrive. The mahout goes to his elephant and checks its gait, appetite, skin, behavior, and overall condition. The elephant has time to walk, eat, and go to the river.

Around 9:30 AM to around 3:00 PM. Activities with guests include riding, walking alongside the elephant, observation, and feeding. Regular rest periods are built into the schedule, and the content is adjusted according to weather and each individual’s condition.

After the guest program. The elephant returns to the forest, engages in natural foraging, and interacts with other elephants. When necessary, a veterinarian based in Luang Prabang is involved in the elephant’s medical care.

Manifa owns over 100 hectares of forest for the elephants. Adjacent private forests are also used, giving the elephants access to a living space far larger than the experience area visible to visitors.

Protecting Health Through Both Numbers and Experience

Written standards and numerical benchmarks matter. They allow us to set clear upper limits and conditions for load, activity duration, temperature, rest, and route suitability.

But numbers alone cannot tell us how an individual elephant is feeling on a given day.

Every elephant has an assigned mahout. The mahout watches for small changes in gait, eating habits, reactions to other elephants, and behavior around familiar people. Changes invisible to visitors are often immediately apparent to someone who has cared for the same elephant for years.

When a mahout notices an unusual gait, reduced appetite, signs of discomfort, or behavioral changes, the day’s activities are reduced or cancelled. When professional examination or treatment is needed, a veterinarian in Luang Prabang is contacted.

Written standards are the foundation of judgment. What actually happens on any given day is decided based on the accumulated knowledge of each individual elephant.

A Relationship That Predates Tourism

The relationship between mahout and elephant existed before visitors came, and continues after they leave.

In Laos, humans and elephants have lived and worked together for generations. Elephants were once involved in forestry, village transport, and ceremonial duties. Today, income from tourism largely supports elephant care, but the knowledge mahouts use to understand each individual elephant was not created for tourists.

Most mahouts at Manifa have worked with the same elephant for over ten years. Den, the head mahout, has cared for the same elephant for more than fifteen years.

A mahout knows where his elephant prefers to forage, how it behaves before a storm, and when it is not in the mood to work. The elephant, in turn, recognizes the mahout’s voice, footsteps, and touch.

Experienced mahouts work alongside younger staff, and each elephant has a mahout who takes daily responsibility for its care.

International guidance

Our operating rules and care practices follow the recommendations published in 2022 by a working group of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group.

Read the full report: Management and Welfare of Captive Asian Elephants Used in Tourism.

Choose Your Experience

Experience	What it involves
Walk beside the elephants	Walk alongside the elephant in the forest. This may include feeding and gentle interaction under staff supervision.
Ride	Sit behind the mahout and ride the elephant as it walks slowly through the forest. For elderly guests or those needing additional support, a wooden saddle can be provided.
Observe and feed	Spend time near the elephant, take photographs, and feed food provided by the camp.

Whichever experience you choose, your payment goes into the same system that supports elephant care, mahout employment, veterinary services, and forest management.

At Manifa, we consider elephant welfare from the perspective of the elephant’s entire life. It cannot be judged by a single activity label such as “riding” or “not riding.”

Our Position

Does carrying people place a heavy burden on the elephant?

At Manifa, one mahout and one guest typically ride without a saddle, and the combined weight is usually less than 5% of the elephant’s body weight. When a saddle is used, the total weight including saddle, mahout, and guest is kept within 10%.

Weight is not the only criterion. The mahout also considers the elephant’s physique, physical condition, activity duration, rest, temperature, and terrain.

A study at Chiang Mai University involving eight adult Asian elephants found no significant changes in joint movement when carrying loads equivalent to 15% of body weight on flat ground.

Additionally, a one-year study tracking 84 elephants across 15 facilities in Thailand found that fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations were lower in the saddle-riding group than in the observation-only group. The researchers pointed to the importance of a natural living environment and adequate exercise opportunities. Another study of 33 elephants across five facilities also showed associations between walking distance, activity time, and better metabolic and health indicators.

These studies do not mean that all riding produces the same results. They show that elephant welfare must be evaluated from the entirety of life, including exercise, diet, rest, ground conditions, activity duration, living environment, and daily care by mahouts, not by the label of a single activity.

Can children ride?

Children aged four and above may participate in regular riding if the combined weight remains within our standards. Children under four may ride only when accompanied by a guardian using a wooden saddle, for added safety. The final decision is made by the mahout and staff based on the child’s physique, combined weight, the elephant’s condition, and the day’s conditions.

Does the saddle harm the elephant?

Manifa uses wooden saddles with cushioning underneath. They are positioned to avoid direct pressure on the spine and to distribute weight across load-bearing areas of the back. The elephant’s back and skin are checked regularly. If any rubbing, sensitivity, pain, or other issues are found, the saddle is not used and the elephant is given rest as needed. A wooden saddle is always available for elderly guests or those needing additional support.

Does choosing not to ride still support the elephant?

Yes. Whichever program you choose, your payment supports the elephant’s food, veterinary care, forest maintenance, and mahout employment. Choosing not to ride does not diminish the scale of your support. Please choose the experience that allows you to participate with the greatest peace of mind.

In Closing

At Manifa, riding is not treated as a right that visitors are entitled to by default. It is an undertaking that carries responsibility toward the elephant, the mahout, and the forest they walk through. It is one way to enter a relationship that continues regardless of whether visitors come or not.

You, too, can enter this relationship, whether by walking or by sitting behind a mahout who has known and cared for that elephant for years. Touch the world where elephant and mahout live together, at a closeness impossible to know from a distance. The mahout will welcome you warmly, and the elephants will meet you in their own way.

If you choose to ride at Manifa, you ride not as a consumer of animals, but as a guest welcomed into the Living-Zone. Here, care, responsibility, and dignity sustain a future where elephant, mahout, and forest continue to live together. If you choose to join, your visit becomes part of carrying that future forward.

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About Elephant Riding at Manifa

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