How to eat a banana leaf

Welcome back Patrick and Celia

Welcome Back Wednesday to Patrick and Celia! Patrick and Celia came 12 years ago on their honeymoon in the first year we were open and looked after Loongsap, who sadly is no longer with us. But they wanted to come back with their children Cassie and Rufus as they never forgot what a great experience they had. We had to give them Jumpee who loves young children and of course loved being looked after by them all! 

Special pellets for our retired elephant, Rosukon | Elephantstay

Welcome back Deb Dyson

Welcome back Wednesday and we are happy to welcome back Deb Dyson! "This is my second visit at elephantstay and it will definitely wont be my last. 
I love this place, the elephants, the people, the culture, the food and the work. I have worked with Michelle while she was a zoo keeper at Melbourne Zoo and have been friends ever since. I am so proud of the work both Michelle and Ewa are doing for the elephants, educating people about the Thai culture. They are doing an amazing job. 
I had the privilege to care for Rasamee, such a beautiful majestic girl who would never say no to a treat or two! My favorite time was when I walked her down to the river and we had a swim together."

St. Stephens International School

Yesterday we gave a talk about elephants to the kids at St Stephens International School. It was a lot of fun as the kids were were so enthusiastic and excited about elephants. They worked hard to give us a generous donation and support all the work the foundation does. Thank you St. Stephens! 

Welcome Back

Welcome back to Dave and Arlene. They returned because they missed everyone at the village and especially Yitor. They love how peaceful and stress free the village. Thanks for looking after Yitor again. 

Congratulations to Jenny

Congratulations to Jenny the founder of Elephant Encounters for her 19th visit! "I keep coming back because I love it here. I love the work you are doing. I love the expertise and seeing the young kids learning from their fathers. I love the elephant culture and the 5000 years of history. The shared history of people and mahouts is so important to learn about and understand and here it is encouraged to give elephants a sustainable future" Jenny has a beautiful bond with Rumruay that she deepens on every visit! 

Flooding, day 20

Day 20, water is receding and we are working hard to get everything operational again, but a lot of dead plants though.

Welcome Back Jenny

Welcome back again Jenny! 
This is Jenny's 18th time - she's been so many times now that we lost track and got it wrong for her last welcome back. Apologies Jenny and thank you for taking elephantastic care of Rumruay. Thank you also for bringing another great Elephant Encountersgroup. 

Welcome back Sigrid

Welcome back to Sigrid for the 4th time. Sigrid said, "I love the hands on #experience that #Elephantstay offers and I feel I'm really contributing to the welfare of #asianelephants. I'd rather be here than on a cruise any day." Thank you for taking care of Sinuwan! 💗🐘💗

Visit St. Stephen International School

We had a great time meeting the kids and talking about Elephants on Monday at St Stephens International School. Their enthusiasm was wonderful. 
Jumbo thanks for your hard work raising 20,000 baht for the eles!

New Mahout houses

They are working hard to get the Mahout Houses ready as soon as possible.

Hall of Fame Gold Member

We are very proud to welcome Jenny Dickens to our Hall of Fame.

She is our first Gold member with her 15 stays!

She looked after Loong Sap many times before her passing

and now takes care of Rumruay.

Yitor and Cath

This week we have Cath King a vet student from Australia visiting us.
She is taking care of Yitor and is very excited about everything at Elephantstay.
When she first stepped up to Yitor she wanted to hug her trunk, but Yitor backed away at that time. These first steps towards Yitor were very special for Cath as she never engaged such a big animal before.
Cath finds it difficult to see the elephants emotions as they cannot show this like other animals, she says. But after she gave Yitor some treats, she could get close to her and the bond was there.
Cath worked with dogs and cats and she is loving every minute of her stay and already knows this is a place where she wants to be back again, but for a longer time period.

March 22, St. Stephen International School in Bangkok

Great morning at St. Stephen's International School in Bangkok where we gave a talk to 65 5 and 6 year old children about Elephantstay and hgow awesome Elephants are. The kids had some great questions and written some lovely poems about Elephants. They also had a fundraiser and donated 30,000 Baht to Elephantstay. Thanks to all who made that happen!

Well treated old elephants

We are coming to that time of year again where the cold winds from China are on there way to Thailand. Our older elephants really feel the cold when it arrives so in preparation we have made some blankets for them.