Volunteering in an elephant sanctuary...

When I set my eyes on them it gives me a sort of amazement. Day by day I observe their tiny little moves, actions and It becomes way clearer, the similarity between humans and them. They are deeply emotional in spite of their vast size and elder age sometimes still with a youthful mischief and playfulness. These giant creatures, weighing over 3000kg and embodies a lot of symbols like success, power, wisdom, piety and already for the first sight gives a goose bump feeling for their observers and the more time we spend in their company the more we become their idolaters and turns crystal clear how much respect they actually deserve. Their dedication for living, resilience, unwavering bond for their own species even at the hardest times. Like humans, they experience secondary emotions, formed by their cognitive interpretation of events. Yes, they truly deserve our respect and care, not the treatment they get. When we think about elephants everyone picturing that torturing moment when people make fun out of them and clothing them as clowns to make them jump back and forth or feed, pet or even ride them all year long which could be once in a life experience for us but for them is an everyday torment.

I never thought my journey will lead to an elephant sanctuary to have a chance to get an insight to their daily life for 30 days and learn so many things about them but rather from them. What I have truly never thought not even in my wildest dreams that I can establish my own project of 3 elephants, their Mahouts(caretakers), and the incredible dedication of the volunteers at Somboon Legacy Foundation within the walls of The Legacy River Kwai Resort. This organization is promoting the importance of ethical non-contact elephants care. I’d like to say thank you in advance to Manouk one and only member of the staff to give me space and possibility to capture this magical and mythical environment through my lens. 

After my arrival it turned out pretty quickly that something is differ, the purity of the facility in non-physical sense, respectful behavior of the people, and the continuous smiles on each employees which transmits a natural gleam and a cloudless calmness that lures smile on the face of people and even on the elephants. I had arrived November 15 accompanied by 6 volunteers to join the other 12 here already. At that time without any knowledge of the enormous task which was waiting for me. The other day when I was being shown around the whole reserve, it came as a bolt to capture the surrounding jungle around us with its tiniest creatures from bugs, birds, squirrels, geckos, scorpions, spiders, snakes, through until the largest elephants.

To introduce the protagonists. I had spent my days at a sanctuary in Kanchanaburi to the east from Bangkok in Thailand. Where these 3 asian different elephants either in age and features spent their days with elegant grace and sometimes smiles on their face Malee(90), Kammoon(80-85), Kham Peng(60+), their Mahouts Pizaa,Somo,Mo, Manouk Maas leader of the foundation, when her time permits key figure of the board Agnes Tammenga, together with the monthly rotation of volunteers pour their heart and soul into ensuring the smoother operation and growth of the sanctuary. First and foremost in order to create an environment which these wild elephants already used to and also to provides an educational program to all of the visitors which could prompt them how incredibly important this ethical non-contact elephant care or even to finally say no to profit driven sanctuaries.

I would like to invite all of you for a short online adventure to experience the extraordinary joy what I had witnessed firsthand. I hope it transmits all of the emotions that I felt the last months of this year and it might going to inspire you to donate to this amazing foundation. Even a small amount can help these super intelligent, extremely emotional creatures live the life they truly deserve at their natural habitat.