I volunteered in Thailand to help provide care to elephants who have been rescued from horrendous conditions, you should too!
I volunteered on the Elephant Refuge programme in Thailand for 2 weeks in April. After a lot of research, I choose this programme because it seemed to be more focused on elephant welfare than one of the standard tourist hotspots you see everywhere in Thailand.
After going through The Mighty Roar's website and checking their feedback, I decided to book through them - and I would happily do so again. They seemed like a reliable company and I was not disappointed, with lots of detailed information provided before hand and quick answers to any questions I had.
When I landed into Thailand (flew with Thai Air), a member of the local team was there to meet me straight away and they took me straight to the project (a 3 hour drive south).
"I would definitely recommend the project to everyone who doesn't mind mucking in and getting a bit dirty."
During the first few days, we learnt our routines and how things worked. Our duties could be anything from making banana ball and enrichment for the elephants, heading off to harvest banana trees and ensuring they are nice and clean by showering them.
Everyone worked to a rota and during our free time we went on safari in search of wild
elephants and other animals and also to the local spa - highly recommend visiting!
There was around 70 other volunteers helping on the the elephant project and the wildlife centre project and I made a group of new friends and we are even arranging to meet up again now we are back in England.
The accommodation is basic (as you should expect when volunteering) and you are sharing with several other volunteers. Fans and meals are provided and the showers are cold - nice in the heat. The local team were all very friendly and everyone would have a joke with them in the evenings.
I would definitely recommend the project to everyone who doesn't mind mucking in and getting a bit dirty.
