What a year! 2014 was a year of amazing travel including to three new countries and major changes such as relocating across the world as we begin the next chapter of our lives. Let’s look back at this eventful year: Singapore In January, I was lucky enough to travel with Lek Chailert, the founder of […]
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I was very excited to join Save Elephant Foundation‘s Surin Project, wanting to spend time with elephants again. I soon discovered, however, that this was a different sort of elephant project, one that helped people. But I wasn’t interested so much in people; I wanted to help and be around elephants. So, while I begrugedly attended the mahout (elephant care-taker) […]
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I was very happy to spend one of my last weeks in Thailand at the Surin Project, which helps improve the lives of captive elephants. After volunteering for a week at Elephant Nature Park in the north of Thailand, where I learned about the plight of Asian elephants, I was eager to do all I […]
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While in the village of Ta Klang in Thailand’s Surin Province, I came across a paper-making factory that taught me how to turn elephant poo into paper. Unfortunately, the poo is collected from captive elephants, usually chained to either a tree or post of some sort, standing with their poo racked and stacked to the side. […]
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The van takes the familiar curves and we know exactly when to turn our heads to the left for the next beautiful view. “This is our last time”, we look at each other with tears in our eyes, “Let’s make the most of it” and brace ourselves for a series of hard goodbyes. Ever since […]
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Elephants are matriarchal by nature, forming strong, tight-knit all-female herds, kicking out males when they become of age. In the wild, female elephants only consort with males for reproductive purposes, always returning to the herd. In the wild, Southeast Asian jungles, herds are typically comprised of only family members. However, in sanctuaries, such as Elephant Nature Park, […]
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Sticks of incense stand upright in the freshly up-turned dirt, filling the air with their fragrant smoke. Like runway lights, they lead the way from where I stand to Mae Tee, finally at rest. Before she came to Elephant Nature Park, Mae Tee was forced to work in the logging industry, hauling massive logs through […]
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On my last morning I took a final look at the map of Ayuthaya that the guesthouse gave me when I noticed a small cartoon-drawn elephant with the label “Elephant Kraal” in the top right corner of the page. With a piqued interest, I looked into this further and discovered that this was the last […]
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Maybe it has something to do with getting older, but for the past few years, I have had less of a desire for birthday things and rather look forward to having fantastic birthday experiences. Last weekend, I turned 33 and I wanted nothing more than to hang out with my two favorite ladies: Ligeia, of […]
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We spent a week within the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary, midway between the Thai border to the north and Siem Reap to the south. We helped out by planting trees in one of the most deforested countries in the world, weeding, creating gardens, and cleaning out the duck pond (not as much fun as the other tasks). […]
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It was late January when rumors started swirling that Save Elephant Foundation was getting ready to rescue another elephant. A few months earlier, during my trip to Surin province to witness Dao Tong’s rescue, my fear of throwing up on the truck due to my crippling motion sickness kept me from fully experiencing this momentous […]
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As you may know, since we volunteered at Elephant Nature Park in May 2012, the foundation that runs it (Save Elephant Foundation), its people and especially the animals it cares for have become very dear to our hearts. In late 2010, two Australians similarly volunteered and their lives immediately changed as well. During their week […]
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Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Surin Elephant Roundup, a government-sanctioned festival celebrating Thailand’s revered Asian elephant. The multi-day event draws large crowds all eager to witness elephants showcasing their amazing abilities. Elephants dancing to Gangnam Style, throwing darts to pop balloons, playing an organized game of soccer and even walking upright to […]
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One night at the Elephant Nature Park (saveelephant.org) there was quite the commotion with trumpeting and trunk slapping. It wasn’t until the morning though that they realized why: a little baby boy had been born during the night. He was given the name Navann, after a minister in the Cambodian government, who happened to be […]
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We arrived at Elephant Nature Park on Sunday morning and were shocked to hear the news the little baby elephant, Raja Gaja, had passed away the night before. Despite round-the-clock care, attention and love, he didn’t make it. The last several days included some major discomfort so this was seen as the end of his suffering. […]
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We went to Elephant Nature Park again for the day as we do every second Saturday. This time was an extra special visit though as we learned on the ride up about a baby elephant that had just arrived the day before. He was only 2 days old. Immediately upon arriving at the park we rushed to the enclosure that […]
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Since Ligeia was only 2 kilometers away from the Elephant Nature Park where she and Mindy did the week of volunteer service, Ligeia decided to spend Friday afternoon and evening visiting the elephants. Oh how great it was to be back! Her visit began with lunch which was yummy and full of vegetarian choices! And […]
Read More…We have befriended several of our fellow volunteers at the Elephant Nature Park and have been fortunate enough to spend more time with them while they are still in Chiang Mai. The group started out with quite a large number but day by day, friends leave Chiang Mai and continue on their way and to […]
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