The elephant trek was largely a great experience, despite me constantly wondering if I’m yet again funding the extinction of a species. Mr. Tree had convinced us to get a guide for an additional US$20. He was supposed to speak fluent English, explain everything about the elephant and the jungle and take us to meet some local villagers, living deeper inside the jungle. Fact is, he barely spoke to us at all. Emma tried about four times to engage him in a conversation. He didn’t know how old the elephant is, how many elephants belong to his village and barely got the name of the elephant out. Suddenly he vanished…
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Elephant Trek in Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri
Besides the politics, we were very excited to embark on our elephant trek today. Mr. Tree drove us out to the local Bunong village where we met our guide at his house. His wife had just given birth four days ago. Their house was basic with an open fire inside. Soon after we met our elephant and set off on our trek. For the most part it was narrow paths, sometimes they were really compact and hard making them very slippery, but the majority of them were very muddy and slippery as it had been raining for days. Every chance she got, she would go off the path and feed…
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Elephant Valley Project – E.L.I.E. – The Local Perspective
We had read a lot about the Elephant Valley Project, an Eco-Tourism Project by E.L.I.E (Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment) in Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri, and um’d and ah’d whether to do it or not. At US$60 per person per day (US$30 if you volunteer – half day with elephants, half day building, or gardening etc.), this wasn’t cheap for us and tricky to justify and fit into our tight budget. We did a lot of online research and found only great reviews on Jack Highwood’s Elephant Valley Project. We had heard and read a lot about the mistreatment of elephants in Thailand and other countries, so it was a relief to…
