Thailand: Start

Update from our Elephant conservation volunteer holiday Thailand

Today, Monday, saw the arrival of our Thailand elephant expedition 2023 team of citizen scientists make it to our base camp and into their homestay in the Karen village Ban Naklang. We have with us Gary, Sandra, Patricia, Paula, Carlo, Sue, Phyllis, Neil, Susanne and Elenor, as well as KSES team Kerri, Aislinne and Jasmin, along with myself, Anthony.

Everyone turned up just in time for lunch after their journey from Chiang Mai this morning, stepping out of the 4x4s looking resplendent in immaculate jungle wear and spotless boots. It’s rainy here, so we’ll soon take care of that…

After lunch we had a KSES presentation from Kerri, followed by introductions and the risk assessment from me (no backing out now). We also learnt about the new digital system for data collecting, designed to reduce error and publish our research more efficiently.

Tomorrow we’ll have a full day of field training, but even more excitingly we’ll get to meet the elephant herd.

Update from our Thailand expedition working as an elephant conservation volunteer