Volunteering with elephants 2016!

On the 18th of June this summer I will be travelling to Chiang Mai, Thailand to volunteer with elephants at an elephant sanctuary for several hours a day for two weeks. I will be volunteering with Working Abroad, and helping out at Bert and Emilys Elephant Sanctuary. Here I will be helping out with the elephants by feeding, washing and walking them, cleaning up and maintaining their living space. The elephants I am volunteering with have retired from having a life where they were used for tourism, where people will have rode them and engaged with them, and because of this some elephants may have injuries. Help from volunteers is valued highly by the owners of the sanctuary, and a lot of their help will come from volunteers like myself.

The elephants live in their own village with their owners, and other helpers and volunteers. While I am here I will also help with conservation such as planting and harvesting crops, and other tasks that will aid the elephants, the owners and Thai residents that live there. There are other animals at the sanctuary such as turtles, dogs and birds which I can also help with. I also have the opportunity to teach English to children and helping with education programmes. A full list of the things I will be doing can be found here: http://www.workingabroad.com/projects/thailand-ele...

I will also get to know these animals and learn about how their minds work and what the dangers are that face the continuation of their species in Thailand. As I will be helping these endangered species, I hope to raise some money to cover some of the costs of programme and my travel there. This will ensure I get to help the elephants so they and the people that run the programme can really benefit, as well as the children learning english and everyone there that will benefit from my help. My help on this programme will most importantly help the elephants live an easier, happy life.