Bubble stay in the Thai jungle is a bucket-list item worth saving for

The hotel

Jungle Bubble Lodge, Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort, Thailand

Check-in

Bubble life: experience an immersive night observing the camp’s gentle giants.

Jungle Bubble Lodge is a new ultra-modern add-on accommodation experience at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort in northern Thailand. The five-star classic safari-style resort is well-known and respected for its resident elephants rescued from camps throughout Thailand. Resort guests now have the option to book a night in the luxurious one-bedroom Jungle Bubble or two-bedroom Jungle Bubble Lodge (where I stayed) to experience an immersive night observing these gentle giants in their tangled and leafy natural surrounds.

This is prime northern Thailand terrain, a 65-hectare grassy woodland on the banks of the Ruak River near the Golden Triangle meeting point of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. The resort’s hillside rooms and suites have superb views over the property and beyond to the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers and to Myanmar, which glints with stupas in the morning light. Jungle Bubbles Lodge is on lower flat ground in the thick of the jungle, with protective forested hills on three sides and a long view in front, across the valley of roaming elephants.

Elephant gazing has never been so luxe, with additions such as a hot tub.

The look

The lodge is perched on a stylish raised 150-square-metre wooden deck edged by manicured tropical garden and a protective railing. A sun umbrella, hot tub and outdoor lounge and dining area ham up the modern luxe factor. “Bubbles” is an accurate description for the accommodation. Five adjoining bubble rooms have been custom-designed using a high-tech polyester fabric. Three of them are completely transparent and as shiny and perfect as glass baubles. From the inside, it really does feel like Willy Wonka has conjured his wildest jungle dreams into being.

Access to the bubble lodges is through a climate controlled air-lock entry that keeps the lodge cool and, presumably, the bubbles inflated. The biggest bubble is a central living room where guests can pull a Chiang Mai pale ale from the minibar, slump in a lounge chair and watch the elephants swinging their trunks not more than 15 metres away. Either side, two bedrooms have king beds, high-thread-count linen and feather pillows. Sinking into them with the full starry night sky view above is very special indeed.

Adjoining each bedroom, the ensuites are opaque green for privacy with a central shower and vanity plus lush Anantara bath products and fluffy towels. The (uber luxe) glamping vibe is only slightly distorted by my two kids spending the whole time roaming around indoors and out in (oversized) bathrobes and (undersized) slippers.

A night under the stars.

Food + drink

Distance from resort facilities doesn’t lessen the standard of service. A tasting of Thailand’s revered cuisine includes spicy pork sausage and green chilli dip from northern Thailand’s Lanna Kingdom for starters, followed by marinated chicken and lemongrass salad, traditional Chiang Rai egg noodles and river prawns in a rich red curry. Dessert is Thailand’s famed mango sticky rice. While we eat our Thai feast, Kummool, 52, and Yokfah, nine, join us and slowly and steadily eat through an enormous stack of cane sugar.

Out + about

Anantara works closely with Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation to provide homes for elephants, as well as their caretaking mahouts and families. The resort has about 20 elephants that have been rescued from mistreatment or taken in voluntarily. Second only to Jungle Bubbles Lodge overnight stay is the resort’s two-hour Walking with Giants experience, which has thankfully replaced elephant riding. Attired in a blue safari suit and matching blue wellingtons, the kids and I follow our free-roaming friends and their mahouts through the bush, under enormous trees and along riverside dirt tracks, with a happy Kummool trumpeting so loudly it sends the native birds flying.

Elephant walks alongside Ruak River has replaced elephant rides.Credit: Penny Watson

The verdict

This luxury immersion in the privileged company of the world’s most enigmatic animals is a bucket-list experience worth saving for.

Essentials

Guests can buy the Jungle Bubble experience as an optional dusk-until-dawn overnight activity, staying in the two-bedroom Jungle Bubble Lodge from THB55,000 ($2430) a night for up to four people, or in a smaller Jungle Bubble from THB28,000 ($1240) a night for two people. Rates include dinner, a fully stocked mini-bar, 24-hour in-room dining service, and tea and coffee making facilities.

Highlight

Getting up close with an elephant; patting its leathery skin and looking into those long eye-lashed eyes.

Lowlight

The Jungle Bubble Lodge experience does not replace resort accommodation and has to be purchased as an add-on overnight activity for resort guests only, so you pay for your resort room and the Jungle Bubble accommodation.

Our rating

★★★★★

The writer was a guest of Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas. See anantara.com