"Elephant Nature park is a unique sanctuary for Asian elephants in northern Thailand, founded by conservationist Sangduen 'Lek' Chailert.
Lek began rescuing injured and mistreated elephants in 1992 and in 2003 was able to establish a permanent homeland for these elephants in a beautiful valley, about an hour north of Chiang Mai.
The park offers an exceptional eco-tourism experience. Visitors have the opportunity to observe and interact with the Asian elephants while learning about their way of life.
Volunteers who stay at the park for a week or more work on projects that directly benefit the elephants including collecting and preparing food, cleaning shelters, digging mud pits and bathing the elephants. They also have the opportunity to walk alongside the elephants through the jungle to Elephant Haven to discover how the elephants live and forage for food in the wild.
Elephant Nature Park educates both toruists and locals about the Asian elephants and the challenges faced by this endangered species. Each elephants at the park has a Mahout/caretaker, who is responsible for the well being of their elephant. Lek, and her mahouts are pioneering a more enlightened approach in teaching young elephants by using love an positive reinforrcement instead of pain.
There are currently more than 30 resuced elephants living at Elephant Nature Park ranging from calves to grand old marriarchs who are over 80 years old.
The elephants at the park are free to choose a family, form small herds and live amongst people who love and respect them. They are not expected to work, nor perform. Instead they are able to wander the park, feed at their leisure, bath in the river and play together in the mud pit. Each elephant has a distinct character, which becomes more evident as they come to regard the park as their home and leave their painful past behind.
Eco Tourism at Elephant Nature Park has many different avenues. One you can stay for a week or more and do vounteer work. Living and working amongst the elephants. Or you can go for a day trip to the Park, and help feed, bath and/or just walk amongst the elephants. Also you can volunteer with Jumbo Express which is an outreach program that makes regular visits to remote hill tribe villages which offers help to improve the lives of working elephants, as well as offers free medical assitance with education to the people on the villages regarding the elephants.
Elephant Nature Park is partially funded by visitors and volunteer. More support is always needed to help rescue more elephants and to sustain and expand the capacity of the park.
The founder of Elephant Nautre Park is the result of the inspiring vision of Lek Chailert to create a better world for the Asain elephants. Lek is from a little known hill tribe group called the Khamu, daughter of a Shaman and has been fighting for the rights of the elephants for decades. Lek has recieved several prestigious awards and has been featured in many magazines and journals."
I wanted to see the elephants, but I did not want to see them in a zoo, nor in a circus, or on the streets of Bangkok. Their are plenty of places where one can see elephants, and ride them. But that was not my desire. Doing a trek in the jungle was not going to happen on this trip either… and given that there are less than 3000 thousand Asian elephants in the wild, chances were I would trek in the wrong side of the jungle.
Nature Park was a blessing. Reflective. Calm. Beautiful. Amazing countryside, and experience.
If you go to Elephant Nature Park, lunch, water and teatime are provided. Wear comfortable shoes, and lightweight clothes. It is warm and dusty. Rides to and from teh park are available as well.
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