The I Love Phants Lodge is a luxury eco-lodge located on the extensive grounds of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. Not only do you get to stay in a very nice room or bungalow, but you also get to see and experience the work of this wonderful foundation up close. Which is exactly why we chose to stay here! How cool to have elephants as your neighbors! You can see them from your room\u2019s balcony and while eating in the restaurant. <\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re budget travelers so such a luxury stay is not something we would normally do. However, since we admire the work WFFT does we felt this was something we could splurge on and support the foundation at the same time. There are plenty of elephant sanctuaries in Thailand that claim to be ethical but really aren\u2019t. Be aware that anyone can claim to have a \u2018sanctuary\u2019 as this isn\u2019t a protected name. If you want to visit a truly ethical animal sanctuary in Thailand that also has an elephant hospital and a wild animal rescue center, this is the place to go.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been following the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand<\/a>\u00a0for several years. They\u2019re an NGO doing amazing work rescuing both captive wild animals and domestic animals in need. Like many other countries, Thailand has its fair share of animal abuse and exploitation. There is a thriving illegal trade in wild animals for pets and medicine, as well as a lot of animal abuse in the tourist industry. We\u2019ve supported this foundation in the past with donations and we were very fortunate that we got to see it for ourselves and even meet the founder, Edwin Wiek<\/a>.<\/p>\n The I Love Phants Lodge is located on the terrain of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand in the town of Tha Mai Ruak in Petchaburi province. When you make a booking, the personnel at the lodge can arrange a transfer for you from Hua Hin or Cha Am. It takes about 30-40 minutes to get there. We stayed in Cha Am the night before and arranged our own transfer with Grab. I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019d recommend this option, as it wasn\u2019t easy to find a driver. But it did save us a bit of money.<\/p>\n We chose to stay in a triple mountain view room and got room number 11. It has a king-size bed and a single bed, perfect for our little family. The room offered plenty of space to put our stuff and there was even a little fridge. I\u2019m not sure about the mountain view, but room 11 is right above the restaurant, overlooking the elephant enclosure. The view is fantastic! Sitting on our balcony we could see the elephants wandering around. A wonderful way to start and end your day. When we arrived the fridge was stocked with free water and sodas, which we felt was a very nice touch.<\/p>\n The ensuite bathroom is good sized. It has a shower stall with both a handheld and rain shower, a sink with mirror and a western style toilet. Toilet paper is provided and housekeeping keeps you stocked. In the bathroom you\u2019ll find toiletries such as soap, shower gel, shampoo and even conditioner. The water pressure was quite low, but we\u2019re finding this in many places in Thailand. We had an issue with the water heater the first day (it was either completely cold or really hot), but we mentioned it to the staff and they went to fix it right away. It was a bit better after that.<\/p>\n I Love Phants Lodge offers a number of different accommodation options, ranging from a double forest view room to a luxury three-bedroom villa with private pool. For families they have family rooms for 2 adults and 2 kids. The family rooms are quite spacious with a king-size bed and a bunk bed. These rooms also have a couch, a dining table and coffee\/tea making facilities. Other options for families are a luxury two or three-bedroom villa that each has its own private pool.<\/p>\n Included in the room price is a wonderful buffet breakfast with plenty of options. This is served in the restaurant at the main lodge. A full English breakfast with fried and scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages, mushrooms and potatoes, but also little fluffy pancakes, different types of bread, cereals, milk, yoghurt and fresh fruit. And a choice of 3 different juices, or coffee\/tea. It\u2019s a great start of the day!<\/p>\n The restaurant has quite an extensive menu and offers both Thai and western dishes for lunch and dinner. Fresh fruit shakes are offered until 17:00. Like everywhere in Thailand the western dishes are more expensive. Ranging from about 120-250 THB the Thai dishes were quite affordable and very tasty. As I don\u2019t like spicy food, I normally always ask. But this one time I forgot and ordered the stirfried mushrooms with Thai Basil\u2026 It was very well made, but let\u2019s just say that was a spicy lesson I won\u2019t soon forget.<\/p>\n Apart from having the elephants as our neighbors, the swimming pool was our son\u2019s favorite place. And to be quite honest ours too as it was HOT when we were there mid-February. Apparently, summer started early this year. After doing the full-day tour seeing some of the work of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, it was an absolute pleasure to be able to jump in the pool to cool off. From the pool you have an awesome view of the elephant enclosure. How cool to see the elephants wandering around while you\u2019re swimming.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to stay at the Lodge to visit the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand<\/a>. You can do a half or a full-day tour as a day trip. But one of the perks of staying at the lodge, apart from the lovely accommodations, the great breakfast, the swimming pool and sleeping next to the elephant enclosure, is a considerable discount on the tours. We were really looking forward to learning more about WFFT and our tour guide Nathalie didn\u2019t disappoint. It was a great experience. We\u2019ve learned a lot and our little world traveler is more determined than ever to support the amazing work the foundation is doing.<\/p>\n For us this definitely was a once-in-a-lifetime experience (although we hope to be back someday and possibly even volunteer). Teaching the next generation about wildlife rescue, wildlife conservation and ethical animal encounters is vital if we want to make sure there will be any wildlife left by the time they grow up, or by the time they themselves have kids. Every donation counts for an NGO like WFFT and staying at the lodge and doing a tour is one way to support them. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the lodge and would recommend it to anyone.<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to know more, check out these links:<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.wfft.org<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n *please note that we weren\u2019t sponsored for this post. We paid for our own stay and it was worth every penny*<\/em><\/p>\n \t\t<\/div>\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.flipflopglobetrotters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/FlipFlopGlobetrotters-I-love-phants-lodge-view.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/p>\nWildlife Friends Foundation Thailand<\/h2>\n
Location<\/h2>\n
Our room<\/h2>\n
![\"FlipFlopGlobetrotters](\"https:\/\/www.flipflopglobetrotters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/FlipFlopGlobetrotters-I-love-phants-lodge-triple-room.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFamily rooms and bungalows<\/h2>\n
Breakfast included<\/h2>\n
![\"I](\"https:\/\/www.flipflopglobetrotters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/FlipFlopGlobetrotters-I-love-phants-lodge-breakfast-buffet.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI Love Phants Lodge restaurant<\/h2>\n
![\"I](\"https:\/\/www.flipflopglobetrotters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/FlipFlopGlobetrotters-I-love-phants-lodge-restaurants.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSwimming pool<\/h2>\n
![\"I](\"https:\/\/www.flipflopglobetrotters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/FlipFlopGlobetrotters-I-love-phants-lodge-pool.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDiscount on tours<\/h2>\n
![\"FlipFlopGlobetrotters](\"https:\/\/www.flipflopglobetrotters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/FlipFlopGlobetrotters-I-love-phants-lodge-family-pic.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOur verdict<\/h2>\n
https:\/\/www.ilovephants.org<\/a>
https:\/\/www.wildlifevolunteer.org<\/a><\/p>\n