Situated some 47km north of Jinghong, and part of the Sanchahe Nature Reserve it's home to Xishuangbanna’s native wild Asian elephants. The valley of the Sancha river and the hills to the west and east are covered in dense tropical rain forest and are well watered by numerous streams. The whole nature reserve covers approx. 1.5 million hectares, Wild Elephant Valley only uses just over 900 acres.

The Yexianggu (Wild Elephant Valley) provides a natural routeway for many species of animals, some of which are endangered. In addition to the elephants, wild oxen, monkeys and green peacocks inhabit the area.

The nature park is easy to reach by local bus from Jinghong (Entry price: Y65) and attracts many visitors who come to stay overnight in the lodges (Y200) in the hope of seeing the elephants bathing in the morning. We recommend an overnight stay.

The park has great facilites for viewing the elephants .The centre piece being a 5km long passageway which divides the park. Along the river is an elevated viewing platform about 250 metres in length . Near the park’s pool there is also a camouflaged observation hide. For those visitors who want to experience the splendor of the forest on foot, a route of nearly 10km has been marked out.

Apart from elephants and other large animals, the park is also home to a butterfly breeding centre, a bird garden and a snake garden.

Whilst both Xishuangbanna Prefecture and Yunnan Province have been keen to promote the Wild Elephant Valley as a tourist attraction, they have managed to do this in an ecologically sensitive way and this has ensured it’s continuing popularity with visitors to the region.

Caution: If you are walking through the park and stumble onto some wild elephants, use your common sense and do not get to close. These are wild elephants.