Thailand: Training

It seems the drought that we mentioned in the last entry has taken short hiatus today as we were awaiting the arrival of the team in the bus.

They arrived at the base (only an hour or so late, due to a heavy downpour) all ready for action. Our team of citizen scientists this year come from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. They’ve all been made welcome by their homestay hosts and moved into their new lodgings,  dropped off their bags and had the first of many amazing Thai meals made by our lovely local cooks.

After lunch we all sat down and talked through the philosophy of Biosphere Expeditions (Safety, Science and Satisfaction), leading in to an in-depth risk assessment. We then spent the rest of the day learning about the history of the project, our local partner KSES, and how record data out in the field. We carried on our classes after dinner, learning what to look for whilst surveying the elephants. With this all in mind, the team is ready to get up into the hills tomorrow morning and the meet the elephants for the first time…