Volunteer with Elephants in Thailand - Chiang Mai

Volunteers joining the elephant camp program in Thailand, Chiang Mai will be living at the camps itself. Their routine work starts from early morning 06:30 am or 07:00 am with taking the elephants for a walk followed by a bath. The rest of the day goes by in doing some of the other caretaking work for elephants at the camp. A generic routine duty that volunteers need to execute during their volunteer work at the elephant camp program includes;

• Taking elephants for a walk followed by a bath in the morning.
• Prepare and feed breakfast to the elephants.
• Help with direction and safety procedures with day tourists upon their arrival.
• Work with the elephants and learn how to be an elephant trainer.  
• taking care of one of the baby elephants
• Moving equipment at the camp.  

This program is highly recommended for animal lovers and for those who are looking to work outdoors.

From the time the volunteers get up in the morning (which is quite early) there are a number of activities they do the entire day, which are generally not time bound. However, a generic daily schedule for volunteers for the entire program goes like;

• Friday: Arrival in Chiang Mai
• Saturday: Orientation + neighborhood familiarization tour. The orientation session will
• be conducted by the local coordinator, covering topic areas; such as safety, culture, language, places to visit, behavior, food, and other suggestion over things to do in Chiang Mai.
• Sunday: City tour of Chiang Mai + Language classes
• Mon to Fri: Volunteer work
• Early morning volunteer work - 06:30 am to 08:00 (take elephants for bath and feed them breakfast)
  • Breakfast - 08:00 am
  • Working hours at the placement - 06:30 am to 05:00 pm
  • Lunch - 12:00 pm onwards
  • Dinner - 06:00 pm onwards

The same volunteer work schedule continues for the coming weeks
Weekends: Explore the city

Note: Please note, the schedule may vary depending on the particular project the volunteer is participating in.

Volunteering Solutions provides end to end services as far as living arrangements of the volunteers are concerned. VolSol volunteers just have to land at the placement destination and the rest is on us to arrange it for you.

Airport Transfer

Volunteers are picked up from the Chiang Mai International Airport in Chiang Mai by the coordinator or representative. Volunteers who’d be present already in Chiang Mai will be met by the staff at a designated meeting point decided beforehand. Please note that volunteers are provided pickup from the airport between 8am and 8pm only.

Orientation

All volunteers are provided with a two day orientation before starting their project work. The Orientation session covers areas like, local Thai culture, greetings, locations, transportation etc. Volunteers are also given a city Tour of Chiang Mai. 

Accommodation

Volunteers are provided accommodation in a volunteer’s home in Chiang Mai. Accommodation is shared with other volunteers. The volunteer house accommodations are located in safe and secure neighborhoods within the Chiang Mai city. We have 3 volunteer homes in Chiang Mai and you would be staying in one of them. All three are very close to each other and have same facilities and are located in the heart of the city.

For volunteers working in the Elephant Program, accommodation is provided at the elephant camp itself (From Mon- Fri). All rooms have  attached western toilets and showers. On the weekends the volunteers are welcome to stay at the home in Chiang Mai (if space available). If room is not available at the House during a weekend, volunteers will have to cover the cost of their own accommodation for those two days.

Meals

All ingredients for breakfast are provided and volunteers can cook their own breakfast. Lunch is provided at the schools and the childrens home projects on all working days.

For all Elephant Camp volunteers all meals are provided from Monday to Friday afternoon. 

During your Free Time

Volunteers can take part in the Thai Cookery classes or Thai Massage course which are available all around Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai also boasts of restaurants of every international cuisine. During the weekends, you can travel to the cities of Pai , Chiang Rai or fly down to the capital city of Bangkok.