We’ve had a few battles here on the inaugural Thailand elephant expedition – with the weather (unseasonal rain), terrain (try walking up a steep hillside after a foraging elephant, especially when it’s slippery from rain), the local language (Karen, which sounds very alien to Indo-European language speakers), guts (some people down with gastro problems; we’re not sure where this came from, but it’s here with a vengeance). So the team has shrunk, but those who could go out enjoyed up-close-and-personal encounters with our study elephants.
It’s Thursday and we’ve just finished our second elephant survey. We observed the elephants for four hours recording data every five minutes. The weather too has been kinder, with temperatures ranging between 24 and 29 degrees C and partly cloudy sky. Keep your fingers crossed that it stays that way!
Biosphere Expeditions: blogs from the frontline of wildlife conservation and the fight for a more sustainable planet 