Dispatches: Thailand

Back to the forest

Tourism has had a devastating impact on Thailand’s captive elephants, but a new project in a northern Karen village suggests it might also be their saviour

Words & photographs Mark Stratton

mid tangled vines and stepping-stone

Acrossings where the cool stream lapped my feet, I paused. The sound of snapping bamboo heralded the arrival of a herd of five Asian elephants. Their wrinkled hides were sticky with red riverbank mud and they browsed heartily, tugging up trunkfuls of greenery amid the cloyingly humid jungle. Two of these animals had a particularly sad story that I’d been following online. At just a year old, baby Par-Gae-Mae lost his mother after she ingested agricultural crops that had been sprayed with pesticide; the calf was found crying beside her body. He was now being cared for by a soulmate in grief, Mo-Go-Nar, who had lost her own baby to herpes (EEHV) and had adopted him.

We followed the herd upstream to a waterfall. The young elephant slipped on a rock and blew a squeaky trumpet of dismay. Yet these captive animals are generally finding peace in the Om Koi jungles of northern Thailand; they are free, for now, from the cruelty that the countr y’s elephant-tourism industry metes out upon them.

There are 59 elephants at the new Evolution Om Koi Project, a collaboration between the American non-profit Gentle Giants and the Karen hilltribe people, the owners of these animals. The aim is to find a more compassionate form of elephant tourism; one that delivers income to the community so that they can avoid sending these creatures to barbarous riding camps.

Any visitor to Thailand cannot fail to notice that elephants are an enduring and omnipresent national symbol, whether taking the form of jade statuettes in Buddhist temples, embellishing the labels of beer bottles, or as batik fabric patterns sold in tourist markets. When I arrived at Chiang Mai railway station, on my way to Om Koi, I even stepped outside onto a little plaza and was surrounded by four stone elephants.

Yet, for all their veneration, Asian elephants are declining across their range – not just in Thailand – and are subject to brutal abuse in captivity in the name of tourism, and sometimes religion. In the wild, the IUCN has upgraded their threat level to critically endangered, and the numbers make for some tough reading. At the end of the 19th century, 300,000 were estimated to inhabit Thailand’s jungles. Now an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 wild elephants remain, perpetually on the run from human-wildlife conflict as the national parks become increasingly isolated refuges.

Meanwhile, some 3,800 captive elephants are subjected to physical and mental abuse at riding camps, circuses and illegal logging operations.

Thai law forbids taking them from the wild, so captive females are forcibly put to bulls to provide babies that will become the next generation to be exploited. Those little ones will undergo the enforced compliance of phajaan: removal from their mothers and being beaten and stabbed by bullhooks until their wild spirits are crushed. When COVID-19 struck, riding camps were shut down. This might seem a good thing, yet it also precipitated a welfare crisis as elephants began starving in the camps that went bust. These animals are invariably rented to the camps by their actual owners, many of them ethnic Karen living on the border with Myanmar. It was a situation that went largely unreported until one dramatic moment. In May 2020, the rescue of 11 riding-camp elephants by Lek Chailert, a world-renowned elephant conservationist, saw their plight suddenly become news. Like a modern-day Hannibal, Chailert led these elephants on foot for three days, taking them back to the jungle of their Karen owners in the Mae Chaem region. In the wake of this, the non-profit Gentle Giants was formed to fundraise elephant upkeep during the pandemic. “I became aware of the terrible situation that elephants and their mahouts were going through when Thailand’s tour ism industr y came to a halt,” “COVID-19 created said Diana Muñoz, one of a welfare crisis as the co-founders of Gentle Giants. During the peak of elephants began the COVID-19 pandemic, starving in the the organisation was supportriding camps that ing several hundred elephants across Thailand in order to went bust” keep them in food. But it was clear to Muñoz that once the pandemic ended and tourism restarted, the elephants would return to the same cycle of abuse. For the economically marginalised hill-tribe communities, renting them to camps and for logging remained a tempting source of income. “Lek told us of 35 elephants in Om Koi that were going to be taken to logging because their Karen owners didn’t have any choice,” said Muñoz. So, to keep the community’s elephants in their native jungle, Gentle Giants began supporting the villagers financially. “This was an eye-opener for the people of Om Koi; they were able to see they could do things in a different way.” Soon, the elephants they were suppor ting increased to 55 (and now 59 due to impregnation by the males who live wild around Om Koi). A more sustainable way of offering support was needed, so rather than just compensating the Karen to not send their animals into logging or riding camps (which is costing Gentle Giants US$35,000 [£28,950] per month), an idea was hatched to create a self-sustaining income whereby eco-volunteers would pay to stay in ⊲

NEED TO KNOW

A six-day adventure in Om Koi costs US$700 (£627) per person, including transportation from your hotel in Chiang Mai, all meals, guides, activities and homestay accommodation. Trips run with a minimum of four people and are currently booked through the non-profit Gentle Giants; visit thegentlegiants.org for more information.

Getting there

There are no direct flights from the UK to Chiang Mai, though daily direct services with Thai Airways (thaiairways.com) fly from London Heathrow. Flights start at around £567 one way and take around 11.5 hours. From Bangkok you can find numerous flight connections to Chiang Mai with local airlines, including Thai Air Asia (airasia.com) and Bangkok Airways (bangkokair.com); these typically take around an hour and cost from £44. A slower, more interesting way to get there is to take the 12-hour sleeper train from Bangkok’s Hua Lamphung Station (Krungthep Aphiwat Central Station is due to open and replace this soon); this leaves at 7.35pm and arrives in Chiang Mai at 8.40am the following day; one-way sleeper tickets start from around £12.

Visa information

Visas are not required for UK nationals for stays of up to 30 days. At the time of writing, visitors still needed to demonstrate proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of your flight.

Om Koi, to be immersed in local culture and visit the elephants in their native habitat. Part of the agreement with the village was that the mahouts refrain from controlling their animals by using bullhooks or chaining them. To stop the elephants crop-raiding at night, chain-free shelters are being funded, with the first one now up and running after US$25,000 (£20,675) was raised to build it.

“The local community is eager to be involved, as they see a way to keep their sons and husbands at home (rather than travelling to the camps as mahouts),” said Muñoz. She hopes this can be a template for a new, more compassionate and cruelty-free elephant tourism across Thailand. Yet it needs a regular stream of visitors to make it work. In order see it in action for myself, I became one of the first eco-volunteers to visit the project.

S e t t i n g o f f f r o m C h i a n g M a i w i t h t wo Karen-speaking guides trained by Lek Chailert, it was a seven-hour drive to the village in Om Koi, climbing into the lushly tropical hills near Myanmar, some of Thailand’s wildest landscape.

An ochre-coloured soil track took us to a hillside village, Tung Ton Ngiaw, surrounded by rice-terraces and jungle. Locals here speak a Sino-Tibetan language and live in wooden, tin-rooved houses that are raised up on stilts. Many of the Karen women and elder men wear home-woven, red embroidered fabrics, which are also on sale – another revenue stream for the villagers.

The volunteer accommodation was basic – a mattress on the floor and cold-water showers – yet I felt instantly welcomed into the community and quickly discovered that while the villagers depend on earning money from their elephants, they do not like the riding camps, nor having to spend so long away.

One mahout, called Chuan, recalled taking his elephant to a riding camp near Chiang Mai: “I was there for three years. I was stuck. It was part of the contract that I had to sign,” he complained. “My elephant, Moh-Par-Na, gave rides all day, mainly to Chinese tourists. She was chained all night. I felt so bad for her, but how else can I feed my family? We have no choice. I am so happy to be back home, and the elephants deserve rest. Already they’re getting healthier, eating more and feeding from the jungle – and we no longer have to be so hard on them.”

He said that he was prepared to earn less money from ecotourism, rather than accept the higher prices that the camps will pay for renting his elephant, so long as it meant he could stay at home.

Each day, I undertook a community activity and at least one elephant trek. Besides a welcoming ceremony featuring the village’s shaman, where I was blessed for a long life, I also took part in rice

planting one morning. It was hard work spending my time immersed in squelchy mud under the watchful gaze of the locals. Perhaps they were wondering if my slow-paced amateurism might result in crop failure? On another morning I attended their elementary school to give an English lesson to a classroom of polite local children. I asked them to name the top ten things that Thailand is known for, and smiled when ‘weed’ came in at number three and a pop princess managed to usurp the king. Otherwise, I enjoyed unrushed viewings of the elephants in their native habitat. The experience was completely magical. I would even argue that this is the best elephant watching anywhere in Asia because the animals are comfortable and rediscovering their wild instincts for browsing. They had also experienced captivity, so it meant that they were at peace with having humans around. I could see how relaxed the mahouts were. Just watching over their animals, to make sure they remained in the jungle and not too close to the community’s crops, is a far easier life than dragging selfie-loving tourists around all day. I saw no bullhook use; instead, the mahouts enticed their “A wild-born baby elephants to a waterhole with called Moe Sae a treat of bananas, which the animals eyed avariciously. It got thoroughly was adorable to watch the overexcited by two little ones, Suk Dee and our presence and William, manically splashing around, hosing water chased us around” like dainty fountains, while their mothers larruped mud all over themselves with a swish of their mighty trunks. On another day a recent wild-born baby called Moe Sae got thoroughly overexcited by our presence and chased us around before slumping to the ground exhausted under Mother’s protective gaze. We were urged to avoid touching this infant as she needed to develop her wild instincts, although it was hard to avoid this bouldering little tyro. I reflected on how, if this initiative works, this fivemonth-old will never endure phajaan; she will exist in a semi-wild state, untrained and unchained. But can it succeed? Once Chinese tourists (who account for the lion’s share of riding activities) start returning en masse with the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions, will the inducements from the camps to the elephants’ owners prove an overwhelming financial temptation? Diana Muñoz hopes not. “True sanctuary is for elephants not to have to entertain humans in any way,” she said. “We truly believe this can break the mould of elephant tourism if visitors are shown how incredibly beautiful it is to see these gentle giants express themselves and interact without fear in this magical, natural habitat.”

TAKE OFF TO QATAR

REASONS TO VISIT A DIVERSE COUNTRY

With the arrival of this year’s FIFA World Cup, the spotlight is already shining brightly on Qatar. But away from the football stadiums, Qatar Airways’ 77 direct flights a week from the UK make it easy to unearth showpieces beyond the pitch. Cultural heritage, underwater encounters, thrilling adventures and wild sightings await every kind of visitor…

FOR THE CULTURE

Thanks to its thirst for world-class art and heritage treasures, Qatar easily backs up its billing as the ‘cultural hub of the Middle East’. Capital Doha lays claim to more leading museums and art galleries than you can count, with the Museum of Islamic Art sitting at the top of its cultural tree. Here, you can walk through 14 centuries in just a few hours, with three continents’ worth of textiles, paintings, ceramics and glassworks to pore over.

Both the National Museum and the Msheireb Museums celebrate Qatar’s rich heritage, from the history of the Bedouin right up to how the discovery of oil transformed the nation. Truth be told, all of Doha is much like a museum and gallery rolled into one, where past and future is showcased in its eclectic architecture – only without the attention and crowds that neighbour Dubai endures.

There are glinting skyscrapers at Qatar’s core, but an ancient heritage is also alive amid the humming alleys of Souq Waqif and Katara Cultural Village. The latter was designed to feel like an ancient fereej (neighbourhood) complete with twisting alleys, mosques, courtyards and an amphitheatre. The old and new is also visible away from the capital, with public art installations such as Richard Serra’s epic ‘East-West/West-East’ sharing the Qatari coastline with the crumbling ruins of Al Zubarah Fort – Qatar’s only UNESCO World Heritage site.

FOR THE NATURE

With much of Qatar carpeted in desert, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the country wasn’t well-stocked with wildlife. But you’d be wrong, and beyond the falconry shows that have existed here for centuries, it’s not hard to encounter animals of almost every kind – you just have to know where to look.

Wildlife appears here where you least expect it, with 4WD tours through the desert often stumbling upon the protected nature reserve of Khor Al Adaid. This oasis, also known as the ‘Inland Sea’, is a popular nesting spot for ospreys and terns, while you’ll also see Arabian oryx (Qatar’s national animal) and gazelles skipping the surrounding pristine dunes. Qatar’s fringes have a bounty of wildlife experiences, and watching hawskbill turtle hatchlings scurrying along Fuwairit beach each June and July is one of the country’s most memorable sightings.

Elsewhere, the country’s vast mangrove systems are a delight to paddle, either in a kayak or on a stand-up paddleboard. These often afford glimpses of Qatar’s rich birdlife, from the flamingos and herons of Al Thakira to the plovers, terns and doves of Purple Island. Further off the coast, guided cruises into the Persian Gulf offer the chance to spy whale sharks and rare dugongs, with the country boasting one of the world’s largest concentrations of these incredible species.

Desert designs

(this page; bottom, left–right) The National Museum of Qatar was designed by architect Jean Nouvel and is inspired by the desert rose that is found in Qatar’s parched areas; visit the Brouq Nature Reserve to see the ‘East-West/ West-East’ art installation, which consists of four 14m tall steel plates

FOR THE ADVENTURE

Beyond sleek, hyper-modern Doha, Qatar is a land bursting with adrenalinfuelled adventures. As a general rule of thumb, venture out of Doha in any direction and you’ll encounter endless ripples of golden whipped

dunes. These flaxen-hued landscapes were once explored by the Bedouin people on the backs of camels; these days, sheering down dunes in a SUV has become the thrill-seeking way to explore the desert. It’s a whiteknuckle ride that your driver will relish, performing stomach-flipping moves and careening across the sand.

While the desert may attract the attention of most adventurers, the coast offers similar thrills. Qataris love water sports, and there are all manner of activities to suit those looking for every speed of adventure. Embark on a gentle paddle through the mangrove waterways of Al Thakira on a stand-up paddleboard or snorkel off the beaches of Bu Samra for sightings of dolphins, crabs and iridescent coral. Even Doha offers you a chance to get active offshore, from kayaking around the man-made Pearl island at dusk to sampling introductory dives or gliding down to discover coral-encrusted shipwrecks such as the Pericles.

For the more intrepid-minded, adventures can be sought in even the most remote corners of Qatar, such as hiking among the unique rock formations of Ras Abrouq or scrambling 40m down into the Dahl Al Misfir cave.

Adventure awaits

(this page; clockwise from top right) The Doha Corniche is a 7km boulevard with restaurants, parks and cultural attractions that include the Museum of Islamic Art; Qatar’s mangrove systems provide a home to a wealth of bird species; enjoy a camel ride through the desert; kitesurfing is a popular water sport in Qatar MAKE IT HAPPEN

With regular direct flights from London (Gatwick and Heathrow), Manchester and Edinburgh to Doha, Qatar Airways makes it easy to reach Qatar’s abundant treasures in around seven hours. You couldn’t be in better hands, either, with Qatar Airways winning Airline of the Year at the 2022 World Airline Awards, an accolade it has scooped for the last three years in a row and seven times in the last 11 years – an impressive haul.

If you want to fly to Qatar in style, it also regularly wins plaudits for its luxurious business-class offering. A flight with Qatar Airways sets the tone for the incredible hospitality that awaits you on the ground in Qatar.

SEEK OUT SLOVENIA’S SUSTAINABLE SIDE

Going green is easy here…

In a world where many of us crave sustainable, life-affirming escapes, Slovenia shines like a beacon between the Alps and the Adriatic. Capital Ljubljana is a former European Green Capital, and Slovenia was the world’s first country to be certified a ‘Green Destination’ at the

Global Green Destinations Day in 2016.

On top of that, the third most forested country in Europe is also awash with vaulting mountains, surging valleys and verdant plains. It’s lush beyond belief, and Slovenia takes its environmental responsibilities seriously. Here’s how to have your own green adventure. IMMERSE YOURSELF IN NATURE

You don’t need to go far to dive into nature in Slovenia, a country where the preservation of the natural world has long been enshrined in the national psyche. It’s gloriously easy to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors in a responsible way, with many businesses

DID YOU KNOW?

At the 2020 Sustainable Top 100 Destination Awards, Slovenia won the ‘Best of Europe 2020’ award for its sustainable model of tourism.

embracing the country’s Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism as well as many other environmental projects. You’ll be instantly immersed in nature, whether strolling around the postcard-pretty lakes of Bled or Bohinj, breathing in the fresh, scented air of the country’s many bountiful forests, or soaring high into the upper reaches of the 2,864m Mount Triglav.

What better way to plunge into nature than by kayaking your way across glacial lakes or out into the wetlands on the edge of Ljubljana. And for something wilder, there’s always whitewater rafting on the River Soča.

If you want to cover more distance, swap paddles for pedals on a road or mountain bike. Many professional cyclists train in Slovenia because of the steep ascents in the alpine mountains to the north – a challenge to any rider. Alternatively, just join locals pedalling around the country’s green towns and cities, which are well-geared for those after a gentle afternoon’s escape.

And lastly, for a bird’s eye view, paragliding opens up the cinematic beauty of Slovenia, letting you see just how green it is from the air.

EAT FRESH

The current global push towards more sustainable, fresher local produce is nothing new in Slovenia, where produce from gardens, local markets and smallscale suppliers flourishes ahead of the supermarket hegemony. Locavores can find delights everywhere, from gostilnas (inns) and budget-conscious restaurants, through to tourist farms and Michelinstarred gastronomic temples. Variety is the key to Slovenian gastronomy, with influences from surrounding countries infusing the nation’s 24 gastronomic regions and more than 400 traditional dishes and drinks.

In chef Ana Roš, Slovenia boasts one of the world’s finest talents, and her Hiša Franko restaurant in the Soča Valley is deserving of its two Michelin stars. Nor is she alone – the country now has over 50 restaurants recognised by Michelin.

A quintet of eateries have picked up a Michelin Green Star for their “culinary excellence with outstanding eco-friendly commitments”. The diversity of options to eat fresh and sustainably in Slovenia is striking: look out for the Slovenia Green Cuisine label which recognises eco-friendly restaurants. Or escape to the refined world of Michelin-starred dining. Atelje, Dam, Gostilna pri Lojzetu, Hiša Denk, Gostišče Grič were all awarded with one star this year. The newest members of the Michelin family are Hiša Linhart, COB, Milka, and Strelec.

Slovenia’s wines also excel, thanks to the country’s three main growing regions (Podravska, Primorska and Posavska). Some fifty grape varieties thrive there, and its wines rival the best of Burgundy and Bordeaux. There are even some fun surprises, such as the mighty Teran wine from the Slovenian Karst region and the low-alcohol Cviček from Lower Carniola.

Green delights

(clockwise from far left) With 91% of its land covered by forest, Kočevsko is the most denselyforested region in Slovenia; Ptuj is the oldest town in Slovenia; eat fine food at Michelinawarded Hiša Denk

DID YOU KNOW?

Slovenia is the first country in the world to hold the official title of ‘Green Destination’.

SEEK OUT PRESERVED TOWNS

As well as protecting the natural world, Slovenia has preserved its past. There is a rich web of history, architecture and culture to discover, with a number of UNESCO World Heritage sites among a slew of days out. This is, after all, a country where evidence of settlement by early humankind dates back some 50,000 years.

Slovenia’s cities have more modern treasures on show. Woven across the streets of capital Ljubljana is a greatest hits of early-20th-century architecture, courtesy of the work of architect Jože Plečnik. Second largest city Maribor can also call on a swathe of impressive buildings wrapping its section of the River Drava, and it even has a 450-year-old grapevine – the world’s oldest. Kranj oozes drama as the town where national poet France Prešeren spent his final years; his romantic verse echoes across the cobbled streets. And Celje has a landmark castle and an old town that offers a thrilling glimpse into its past.

Down on the coast, the city of Koper keeps alive the Venetian age in its architecture, as does nearby Piran, whose sister campanile gazes over the Adriatic towards St Mark’s. Idrija has lace and mining traditions, Ptuj celebrates the remarkable Kurentovanje festival, and postcard-pretty Radovljica, Škofja Loka and Kamnik all bewitch with historic centres lovingly brought back to life.

Wherever you are in Slovenia, responsible travel couldn’t be easier.

DID YOU KNOW?

More than 200 destinations, operators, agencies, parks and landmarks operate in Slovenia in accordance with the principles and criteria of the Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism certification.