Provide elephant care, conduct long term research and help manage an elephant sanctuary in Thailand
Program Overview
This internship will take you deep into the lush mountainous region surrounding Chiang Mai in Thailand to contribute towards conserving the Asian elephant by living and working with traditional elephant-keeping communities.You will be participating in a project which looks to reintroduce captive elephants to their natural habitat in a managed forest.
Your first 12 weeks will be spent training in preparation for your work placement. You will be assigned the care of an elephant mother and her calf, working closely with a local elephant keeper (mahout) and the community to develop sustainable eco-tourism initiatives and, eventually, lead other volunteers on hikes into the forest or on elephant health inspections.
Your 12 week work placement may involve several projects, such as assisting with elephant behavioral studies, documenting medicinal plants, teaching in local schools, or finding new ways for mahouts to make money so they can avoid a return to a life of unsustainable tourism, circus acting or street-begging. Work placements offer unique opportunities for personal growth, and may involve fundraising, PR, community development, and assisting with the management of a professional conservation program.
Qualifying candidates may be given the opportunity to work for selected partner organisations or with GVI in Thailand, or in other countries around the world.
Life on the Program
You will spend your mornings hiking into the forest following the elephants, while afternoons will be dedicated to lectures so you can learn more about elephant keeping. Throughout your training staff will guide you as you learn how to assess your elephant’s health and conduct surveys in the forest.
You will stay within a traditional Karen village, in basic but comfortable conditions. As this is a traditional community, you are expected to adapt and show respect for the environment in which you will be living. You will also act as a role model for both locals and volunteers.
Over time you will become truly immersed, as you learn the local language and culture, in addition to ancient elephant-keeping techniques.
Project Details
The population of Asian elephants is distressingly low and, due to the harsh treatment many receive in captivity, current numbers are rapidly declining. There are now less than 1,000 Asian elephants left in the wild in Thailand with around 3,000 in captivity.
Your contribution will greatly help the conservation of these magnificent animals by providing hands-on support and funding needed to continue this project and by assisting with ongoing research. The focus of the internship is on ensuring that these captive elephants are successfully reintroduced into protected forest.
As a result of this project, it is hoped that there will eventually be families of elephants living as a semi-wild population, supervised by their mahouts.
How this project makes a difference:
Elephants can be very expensive to care for, and generally are forced to make money through tourism. However, as an unregulated industry, elephant tourism can be an ugly business. Circus elephants are often pushed beyond their limits just to draw larger crowds. Our work with the local community aims to provide a sustainable way for elephants have healthy lives that will ensure their long term conservation and survival.
Volunteer Testimonials
As an intern on this program I've had what I can genuinely say to be some of the best and most rewarding experiences of my life. Living and working closely with the Karen people of Huay Pakoot village, I've gained firm friends, learned a great deal about Karen culture, helped the villagers sustain their environmentally sound traditional way of living, been involved with the education of the village children, and fallen in love with this remote, lush and stunningly beautiful part of Thailand.
My roles include leading volunteers in a range of activities including measuring the elephants to collect biometric data, observing the elephants social behaviour, collecting food samples, cutting grass for the elephants to eat (with machetes!), and a number of community service activities. I also teach English to the mahouts, home stay families and school children which I enjoy more than I can express in words.
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Program Details
Build Your Program
What's Included
- Pre-departure support and discounted services
- 24-hour emergency phone
- Airport pick-up (unless otherwise stated)
- Arrival orientation
- Long term experienced staff
- Safe and basic accommodations (usually shared)
- All meals (unless otherwise stated in field manuals)
- Welcome meeting
- Location orientation
- All necessary project training by experienced staff
- All necessary project equipment and materials
- 24-hour in-country support
- Teamwork and leadership experience
- Emergency First Response Training
- Living and working within an indigenous community
- Comprehensive training program that encompasses theory lectures, group study and field practice and a weekly review with your mentor
- Final evaluation
- Certification and summary of training and experience received
- Confidential professional reference
- Transportation (as required for project work)
What's Not Included
- Flights
- Medical and travel insurance
- Visa costs
- Personal kit
- Additional drinks and gratuities
- Extra local excursions
- International and domestic airport taxes
