Here at Elephant Nature Park, wonders never cease! It is impossible to not get totally sucked in by our ongoing elephant soap opera. With each day, there are amazing interactions happening and endless possibilities for new alliances. Our latest development…
Sharing knowledge and encouragement across the border Many of our visitors and volunteers ask us if there are other places where they might see elephants where there is no riding or elephant show involved. Save Elephant Foundation (SEF) is always on…
Congratulations to Muoy, host of Pamper a Pachyderm! She has rescued her first elephant. As we mentioned in our last Pamper a Pachyderm update, the elephants that Muoy previously leased had been taken back by their owners. Being successful, the…
For one lucky 65-year-old elephant, her life of trekking came to an end on 25 March 2014. Kwan Jit, meaning sweet heart in Thai, stepped into a new life of freedom at Elephant Nature Park, joining more than 30 other rescued…
Close your eyes and imagine ... eating a picnic lunch in the jungle, surrounded by elephants who don't have to work but get to enjoy just being elephants! This is now a reality, thanks to the launch of the new…
Becomes first international foundation in country to work with government and locals CHIANG MAI, Thailand – 03 January 2014 – For Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, founder of Thailand's Save Elephant Foundation, nothing happens overnight. In this case, her work and perseverance…
Education and knowledge are the keys to change. This is something we have learned over and over, not just with visitors who come to Thailand and to our projects, but also with other elephant camps.
When Erawan Elephant Retirement Park opened in July, 2013, Save Elephant Foundation was able to take five elephants from trekking camps, street begging and performance shows and move them to a new home … in retirement. Now, almost six months later, we are happy to report that these elephants are enjoying their freedom. This project came about because Lek worked hard to establish relationships with camps in Kanchanaburi and educate them on how to help their elephants lives become better.
An integral part to all of our projects is education that expands beyond just our world of visitors and volunteers. We continue to educate elephant camp owners and hope we can help improve their lives in captivity.
Over the past few years, we have had several camps open next to us at Elephant Nature Park.
The nearby trekking camp with their elephants. This is no longer their world, thanks to the hard work and education they have received from Lek and SEF about how to better their elephants lives.
The past few months, Chiang Mai has played host to Hollywood, thanks to the filming of the action movie, “The Coup.”
Of course, no visit to Thailand’s second-largest city is complete without a trip up to Elephant Nature Park. We were fortunate to welcome stars Owen Wilson and Lake Bell, who play a married couple in the film, as well as actresses Claire Geare and Sterling Jerins, plus brothers film director John Erick Dowdle and producer Drew Dowdle.
The most beautiful part?
One visit to Lek and the elephants wasn’t enough!
Members of the cast and production team of “The Coup” visit Elephant Nature Park with Lek and Beau. L-R: John, Lake, Owen, Drew, Beau, Diana
The majority of us are blessed with the gift of sight. We take it for granted, without thinking how very lucky we are.
Imagine for a moment not being able to see, relying only on hearing and touch. Imagine being born blind, therefore not having any mental images stored for descriptive reference.
Imagine traveling to a foreign land, where your native tongue is not spoken and venturing to a place where elephants roam free and you can experience them up close, learning about them through touch.
Would you be afraid? Would you be excited?
For two years in a row we have had a very special group of teenagers from the Korean Art Association for the Blind who travel all the way from Korea to visit Elephant Nature Park, staying two days. They come from the Chungju Seongmo School for the Blind and their tour is titled “Touching an Elephant.” These students are training to be artists and are learning to ‘see by touch’ so that they can create works of art in various mediums.
Their stay at Elephant Nature Park included the group engaging in feeding the elephants, learning about them and having an up-close experience with Lek and Faa Mai.
Since the foundation launched its new site and blog encompassing all of Lek’s projects in October 2012, we’ve aimed to provide our supporters not only with the latest news from her projects, but also entertaining and informative stories and photos about the animals we rescue.
Today, we’d like to share with you some of our favorite photos of Lek with you from the past year. These photos show just how amazing Lek and her bond with the animals in her life is.