This review is for the one day trip to Elephant world, there wasn't a tab for this on TripAdvisor!
Sadly disappointed, arrived and we were given no information about the park, no history, ethos, aims or any information about any of the Elephants.
Led straight into feeding them, which was fun, we then proceeded to walk to another part of the park to carry on feeding them and interacting with them, again a nice thing to do, the handlers were friendly and when asked did give information, however this was very limited.
We made soft food for an elderly elephant that was without teeth and later fed her, again a lovely thing to do, along with getting into the river and scrubbing them with a brush.
On walking about the park, during the the lunch break I was upset to see at the back of the park an elephant chained to a tree, later when we were taken there they had been released.
My main upset and concern was when a trainer (their words not mine) began to get the baby elephant to drop down to his knees in front of the tourists, this elephant had clearly been trained to do this, both myself and another guest were alarmed and asked them to stop, this is clear exploitation and something to entertain the tourists, these magnificent animals are supposed to be being cared for in their natural environments not there to amuse the tourists, Why is this allowed to happen?
We were also informed that at night they are all chained up as they might escape into a farmers field and they will get fined, why not build an enclosure, where they can roam free, I understand this may be costly, however chaining them is surely not something that can be continued long term?
On another note, there were dogs wandering around, two of these dogs urgently need veterinary treatment, one brown one had a bad limp and another small one, was so matted he could hardly walk and was clearly in great distress and was biting and scratching himself constantly. There was a glass donation box requesting money for dog food, could this not be used to fund medical care for them? It was a distressing trip in regards to animal welfare and conservation, however the handlers were friendly and approachable, I think with correct in-depth training and understanding in regards to animal care and the conservation of these great animals, things could be improved.
It would also be beneficial from both a financial view for the park and for education if a small talk at the beginning of the tour could be provided, giving people information in regards to the park and its history and aims, along with info about each elephant. It might also be a good idea to offer adoptions of the elephants, providing yearly information as a way to increase funding?