In South East Asia you get many opportunities to see elephants but not always in the best way for elephants. We have already seen elephants being ridden with big baskets on their backs in two different places and we passed “sanctuaries” in Thailand where the elephants had no space to move around all day. Before we left home we had read about the Elephant Valley Project in the Mondulkiri Province (they also now have a sanctuary in Chang Rai, Thailand, too) which is about taking rescued elephants and giving them as much freedom as possible to live as elephants should. Free to roam the jungle with natural food and a river to wash in and on land that is 100% secured now for this sole purpose. The project will even rent working elephants from locals on short term contracts to give the elephants a rest. And this is funded by visitors, like us, who are lucky enough to watch the elephants in their natural habitat from a safe distance – no tourist rides, no washing the elephants – just witnessing the amazing animals being happy in their day.
We decided to stay at the project and volunteer so we helped Tara (the Aussie volunteer co-ordinator) to build a bamboo wall at the backpacker’s dormitory – and a pretty good wall I’d say too!
It was great to be part of a project that really does have the ethos of putting the elephants first and the needs, or wants, of us selfish humans second. Afterall, some of those poor elephants have had really harsh lives working in logging, construction, and hard farming for hours everyday and then chained up with a short chain every night. So sad!
But here they looked so happy washing in the river (sometimes with the help of their mahoot who looks after them and ensure they don’t run off and decimate neighbouring farms), then covering themselves with mud again and having a good old scratch on the trees or river bank. Bliss! We were also amazed how such a big animal can walk so fast but, more impressively, so silently. They are like silent stalkers!
It was also great to talk in depth to our guide who was Bunong (the local tribe) and to hear what it is like to live in the area so in sync with a jungle that is now threatened by logging, farming and foreign development.
Well we have many, many photos, “elphies” and videos that we could bore you all with but we’re sure you get the idea. It was a very special time for us.
#elephantvalleyproject #savetheasianelephant
#responsibletourism
