Thailand Elephant World – Why you must Visit!

Welcome Readers,

I have been so slack with my blog post but there is a really good reason why.

I have been on a plane for the last 48 hours travelling to the beautiful country Thailand. The main reason I went to Thailand was to donate my time and money at the Elephant Orphanages. Yes, I may have booked flights last minute, Also my Air BNB and everything else in between. However, Sitting down with a cuppa my room-mate announced to me that she wanted to go to Thailand and if I had heard about the Elephant orphanage.

My Aquarian curiosity kicked into full gear and researching I did. Up until past Mid night I had drowned my self into researching about the Asian Elephants and what really goes on over in Thailand. Sadden by the truth and of course my love for Elephants which I get from my crazy Father, I just had this urge to book and go. Knowing the risk of not getting back in time for work and possibly not getting on the plane I still had to book and help out in this sanctuary. Let’s fast forward a bit because I will discuss Thailand in a few different other blog post since a lot of random, unfortunate things happened to me along my journey.

In a funny way…

 

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WHY SHOULD I VISIT ELEPHANT WORLD?

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• Going to Thailand everyone wants to ride cute, adorable and friendly elephants by getting  their photos taken because  friends have all done it or because it’s just what “you” do. I urge you from the bottom of my heart to STOP this right now! Please do not go to a trekking park in Thailand.

• Did you know that an Elephants spine is the weakest part of the body!!!? They can only carry up to 100kg, the Seat weighs 50kg and then adding 2-4 people on top. Imagine having a heavy freaking Chair on your back with 4 small children all day every day. Now this is what the Elephant have to endure everyday, all day.. this leads to Elephants with permanent spinal injury which then leads to complete and absolute exhaustion. You do not even want to know what type of abuse these poor loving animals have to go through to become such a well-behaved puppet for entertainment. Just do your research and read up about it.. EDUCATE yourself people. Stop following the crowd, these Elephants don’t have a choice but the follow the crowd.

•  Elephant world is a Non-profit organisation which have saved, rescued and also paid money to get these elephants away from the abuse! They care for the sick, old, disabled and abused, by nurturing them back into their own freedom and peace.  They have been around since 2008 and since being a Non-profit organisation every donation/money goes straight into the Elephant retirement sanctuary. Why pay to ride on an Elephant and support this bad abusive behaviour when you could pay to actually do good for them? You will still also have a close encounter with them but at a safe distance while observing their natural behaviour in a serenity environment.

• By visiting this park you will be educated not only on Elephants in general but also on what really goes in trekking camps. You get to participate in activities that will benefit these beauties such as washing and cleaning watermelons, cutting down corn, feeding the elephants the right nourishment food, preparing sticky rice and you even get to have a MUD BATH with them!! So why would you want to ride these animals when you can have a close encounter with pure happiness and joy that these Elephants display. All of your money which isn’t much at all! Goes back into the park –

• Elephants world’s motto:

“We work for the Elephants, the Elephants do not work for us!” 

• There are different Programs you can choose from. Day program, Overnight program and Forest program. I could only do the Day program since I was only in Thailand for a short time. The day program was still an incredible experience which started from 10am – 4pm. In this time I learnt so much about the organisation and how incredibly lucky these Elephants are to have a place called heaven. The overnight program also sounds amazing which I will add the website link down the bottom for you to click onto. However, there is one more particular program that I am going to apply for which is called “Volunteering.”

In summary I want to give you some tips and guide about visiting this park. (Hopefully you choose to do this!)

1.The park is in Kanchanaburi which is about 2-3 hours away from Bangkok. I advise you to get up super early, around 4am. Decide on the transportation you wish to take. We originally planned on getting the Mini Van to the park but after reading a lot of forums and waiting at the Momentous station we soon realised by a quick google search that they moved stations. We ultimately decided on a Uber. We were fortunate enough to have met a beautiful Thailand man who decided he would take us all the way to the park and even slept in his car and waited for us! Yes! SLEPT! in his car. We bought him food, water and even an elephant friendship key ring for his kind gesture to take us back home. Now don’t expect uber to work of you or have someone wait for you. Catching the Buses, mini  van or even a taxi which the park can organise for you is the best way to get there.

2.Pack some extra water and snacks as the journey is far (unless you decided to stay there.) You will get water given to you on arrival, however it is hot and you will be thirsty during your day program. They do have filtered cold water which is great to fill up your bottles. 

3. Pack spare change of clothing! You will have a mud bath and will need to shower afterwards, also its stinky and sweaty haha. Bring you camera, sunscreen and mosquito spray. Also, don’t forget to bring cash so you can purchase amazing elephant hand-made stoned statues!

Pricing –

Day program: Adults (12+) 2,500 THB, Children ( 4-11 ) 1,500 THB Includes: Transportation (Kanchanaburi city only), lunch, drinking water, tea, and coffee.

Over night program: Adults (12+) 4,500 THB, Children (4 – 11) 3,200 THB
Includes Transportation (Kanchanaburi city only), accommodation, 2 x lunch, 1 x breakfast, 1 x dinner, drinking water, tea, and coffee.

Forest Program: 1 Week 20,000 THB
2 Weeks 40,000 THB
3 Weeks 60,000 THB
4 Weeks 75,000 THB
Includes Transportation (Kanchanaburi city only), accommodation, breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinking water, coffee and tea, two mahout T-shirts, a mahout certificate.

I hope my blog post has inspired more like minded people to choose Elephant word or other Elephant parks that help these beautiful souls.

I have been enlightened and can happily say that I will be back to volunteer at this park, so maybe next time you might even have me tour you around the park. 🙂

Please email me if you want further information as I am so passionate about all of this and please please please! Stop trekking!!!!

CLICK HERE FOR WEBSITE:  elephantsworld.org