Elephants

- 7 Elephants on the project

- All Female

- Baby 'Imboon' (born feb 2010)

Geography

The Surin Project is located:

- 450km NE of Bangkok

- 850km SE of Chiang Mai

Climate

- Cold Season (Dec-Feb : 15C/30C)

- Hot Season (March-June : 30C/45C)

- Rainy Season (July-Nov : 25C/35C)

Surin Elephant Study Center

- Over 160 elephants in the centre

- 90% are "unemployed"

- Severe food and water shortages

Accommodation

This is a unique opportunity to live with a local Thai family in their home. Accommodation is basic and clean. Each home owns an elephant and you literally have an elephant living at your house.

Cost

The Surin Project is run as a non-profit. In order to help establish this new sanctuary and cover costs, there is a contribution of 12,000 Thai Baht per volunteer for 6 days/5 nights on the project. Your contribution break down includes your food, accommodation, transport, mahouts salary, elephant food, project materials and contribution to the centre - basically your money is used entirely for improving the lives of elephants.

For further details please visit www.surinproject.org

Volunteer Opportunities

Quick Facts about the Surin Project

Volunteers are urgently needed each week. You will change the lives of elephants immediately whilst experiencing daily life in an elephant village. This is an immensely rewarding project.

The Surin Project is located in the Surin province in North East Thailand and is dedicated to creating a world class elephant sanctuary for 160+ elephants.

The Surin Project is a cooperation between the Elephant Nature Foundation (ENF) and the Thai Government. The Thai Government approached ENF asking them to help create an elephant sanctuary and provide the opportunity for elephants that are currently in the Surin Elephant Study centre to have the opportunity to roam free and behave naturally.

The living conditions of the elephants at the Elephant Study Centre are poor. Most elephants are chained all day with nothing to do than stand in the sun. The sanctuary is desperately needed.

The goal of Elephant Nature Foundation

1. ❖With the support of the Thai Government, ENF’s goal is to establish sustainably managed elephant tourism as an alternative to street begging or other forms of tourism, such as circuses and elephant rides
   

2. ❖Families of elephants will roam freely in natural habitat and their mahouts will be provided with a steady monthly income
   

3. ❖This income will supplement some of the money that the mahouts previously made from street begging thereby encouraging them to stay at the park
   

4. ❖This impact this project will have for elephant conservation is huge
   

5. ❖The Surin government as already set aside over 2,000 acres of land, enough to maintain a breeding population of 300 elephants, approximately 10% of the existing population of Asian elephants living in captivity in Thailand today
   

The Surin Project has the chance to change history - to save the Asian elephant from extinction and give them a life worth living for generations to come

This project would not exist if it wasn’t for volunteers. Volunteers are desperately needed every week for this project to become a world class sanctuary.

Here’s what volunteers provide:

1. ❖employment and financial support for the mahouts and their elephants
   

2. ❖invaluable help building shelters, digging irrigation canals and planting elephant food
   

3. ❖make an IMMEDIATE difference to the lives of elephants. For example you will build a shelter for an elephant that stands in the blazing sun all day and immediately the elephant will have shade
   

4. ❖walk through the forest with the elephants to the river every day, this allows the elephants the opportunity to lay down their chains and interact together
   

show the local mahouts that people are willing to come to see elephants in a natural setting, this will hopefully motivate them to adapt their husbandry methods to care for their elephants