Elephant’s World – The elephant sanctuary

When thinking about how to make best use of my volunteer days last year, I discussed with my friend and colleague Oskar Leander if he would be interested in doing something a bit out of the ordinary together.

Before joining Microsoft, Oskar lived, studied and worked in Bangkok, Thailand for 6 years. It has since become a second home to him, and he have talked to me many times about a visit was due and this time we decided it would be a cool idea to volunteer as well.

So Oskar and I decided to look for opportunities near Bangkok. We found programs to help clean up the Chao Praya river, make books for school children and more. As we only had a few days available for volunteering, it limited our choices somewhat. Finally, we chose an overnight program at Elephant’s World outside of the beautiful, historic town of Kanchanaburi (famous from movies such as The Bridge on The River Kwai), a couple of hours outside of Bangkok.

Elephant’s World is like a retirement home for elephants that have been working hard for most of their lives in the logging or tourism industry.

At Elephant's World elephants are adopted and are free to roam for most of the day. The elephants are fed, bathed, cleaned and entertained. It is like a retirement home for elephants that have been working hard for most of their lives in the logging or tourism industry. As both tourists and volunteers, you help out with everything from cutting the grass to scrubbing the animals. FYI an elephant eats around 200kg (at least) of food every day, so it’s quite hard work!

FYI an elephant eats around 200kg of food every day, so it’s quite hard work!

Most importantly though, you are not allowed to ride the elephants and they do not have to toil or carry anything heavy around. I don’t profess to know everything here but after spending a few days with them; the elephants seem to live a pretty good life at Elephant’s World.

During our stay we talked to the Mahouts (Elephant carer) and guides and were able to hear their stories. Taking care of an elephant is no easy job.

One of the most memorable moments was when we first covered one of the elephants in mud; she loved it.

For one, some elephants, especially for the larger male elephants, choose the Mahout and not the other way around. Not just anyone can take care of an elephant, there needs to be a strong bond that takes a long time to achieve. They also need a lot of land to roam on as well as the huge amounts of food mentioned earlier.

One of the most memorable moments was when we first covered one of the elephants in mud; she loved it. Then we brought her to the nearby river and washed her off. These animals are very friendly and love getting bathed. Who doesn’t?

Of course, they also love being dirty (again, who doesn’t?) so it didn’t take long after bathing for them to cover themselves in dirt again. The perfect sunscreen for these beautiful animals.

An overnight stay, this can be one night or more, at Elephant’s World includes meals (for you and the elephants), accommodation and an unforgettable learning experience. I can also highly recommend waking up at sunrise to hike up the nearby mountain. From there, the big elephants below looked like ants.

Thanks to all the people and animals at Elephant's World, and Microsoft, for giving us the opportunity to interact and learn more about these gentle giants. For more information, please visit www.elephantsworld.org or their facebook website. If you are ever in Thailand, try to visit a place like this instead of riding elephants or seeing them at some sort of “animal show”.