Info

Volunteers in this project work at an Elephant Camp located 45 minutes away from the main city of Chiang Mai. The Camp is surrounded by lush green mountains from all sides.

Volunteers assist and work alongside elephant trainers and other Camp staff from 7:00 am – 5:00 pm (Monday – Friday).

The day starts early at the Elephant Park. Seven o’clock is elephant bath time, followed by breakfast for the elephants. Once the elephants are fed and before day visitors make their arrival is when volunteers and other staff can sit down, have breakfast and enjoy a cup of northern Thai coffee with the backdrop of the rolling mountains of northern Thailand. Volunteers may help with direction and safety procedures with day tourists upon their arrival. After lunch all volunteers will work with the elephants and learn how to be an elephant trainer.

Later in the afternoon volunteers will be broken up into different tasks. The elephant park is big and has a very large staff. It’s almost a community of its own. Everyone living in the surrounding village is either staff or a family member of a staff person at the park. Therefore volunteers will be asked to help out and work with the families and children of the park’s workers. Some volunteers will teach an hour or two of English at the local hill tribe school. Other volunteers will stay at the park and teach English to the elephant trainers and other staff. Volunteers may be asked to help out with other areas of the elephant camp during their volunteer service. These additional things could be anything from taking care of one of the baby elephants to moving equipment. Any little bit helps in the development of the camp. Late in the afternoon/early evening, volunteers will be able to spend more time with the elephants and elephant trainers. This is when volunteers will really begin to bond with these lovely creatures and learn how to best care for them.


Program Information
Program Requirements
Volunteers must be 18 years or older at the beginning of the program and should be fit and healthy to work along with animals in the open environment.

Project Location
The volunteer project is 40 miles from the main city of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is Thailand’s second largest city. Located in Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai is a pleasant city, encircled by mountains and lush rice fields.

Duration

2 - 24 weeks

Start Dates

All Year round

Costs / Benefits

Starting USD200/ GBP125