THAILAND / Save Elephant Foundation
Located approximately 50 kilometers from Kanchanaburi, Thailand, the Erawan Elephant Retirement Park is the newest project sponsored by the Save Elephant Foundation. The first five elephants to call the park home arrived in early July, 2013. All the resident elephants are former tourism elephants, rescued from trekking camps, street-begging or performance shows.
Spread over 50 acres, the facility operates similarly to Elephant Nature Park and volunteers will help maintain the retirement property, as well as assist the mahouts with the elephants.
Volunteer Program
As a volunteer, you’ll be working at planting and harvesting crops for elephant food, cleaning up elephant poop, making mud pits, but you’ll also get to enjoy bath time in the river and long walks with the elephants through the jungle.
You are provided with three meals per day, with unlimited drinking water available. Volunteers receive a free t-shirt and reusable water bottle. Round-trip transportation is included from your guest house or hotel in Kanchanaburi.
Price
By volunteering at Erawan Elephant Retirement Park, you will be supporting a sustainable tourism project and helping to protect the endangered Asian elephant. The elephants you will get to know have been rescued from difficult lives in the tourist industry, and will now be able to enjoy their retirement.
The volunteer fee includes all meals, accommodation (twin bed shared with attached bathroom) and accident insurance while on the project. If requested, private accommodation may be available at an additional fee of 2,000 THB. Round-trip transportation is included from your guest house or hotel in Kanchanburi, and your volunteer coordinator will pick you on the Monday morning between 8:00-9:00am.
Volunteer 1 Week (Monday – Sunday) – 12,000 baht
For more information please visit http://www.saveelephant.org/erawan_elephant_retirement_park.html