Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal in February 2010, Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal, Thailand
I visited the Elephant Kraal on a very hot and humid day, and I must admit Elephants don’t smell that good standing near them. However many of the Elephants were being watered down to keep them cool and clean. This is a place that you really do need to keep your eyes open, there is a great number of droppings around the walking area. Across the road several gift shops are enticing to visit. They are surprisingly different to most other tourist area shops, having many handbags and shopping bags made from straw, and pottery on display is very unusual, I bought several coffee mugs with lids and strainers, make sure the strainers are in your box before you leave!
In the 1980’s Thailand banned commercial logging from’ its rapidly shrinking forests. While this was an environmental achievement, one unfortunate consequence was the traditional Thai mahouts or elephant trainers to you and I and their families along with their elephants were put out of productive work.
An ever increasing human population has also meant that there is less and less forest in which elephants can roam as freely as we would like them to in an ideal world. Whatever your views on this I never saw any animal being treated badly and were looked after with kindness and understanding.
Then in 1995 the Prakochaban Foundation was set up by Laithongrien Meepan, an amazingly kind and generous man known locally as Pi Om. He devoted his life to restoring the Asian elephant to their rightful place in Thai society as a, much loved and respected symbol of Thailand’s incredible history… and future.
With support from the Prakochaban Foundation, the former Royal Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya was turned into safe haven for sick, abused, injured and killer bull elephants in need of rehabilitation. Today, the Royal Kraal, once a compound where the king of Thailand kept captured elephants, is home to 90 such animals, all living happy and comfortable lives.
Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal in February 2010, Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal, Thailand
I visited the Elephant Kraal on a very hot and humid day, and I must admit Elephants don’t smell that good standing near them. However many of the Elephants were being watered down to keep them cool and clean. This is a place that you really do need to keep your eyes open, there is a great number of droppings around the walking area. Across the road several gift shops are enticing to visit. They are surprisingly different to most other tourist area shops, having many handbags and shopping bags made from straw, and pottery on display is very unusual, I bought several coffee mugs with lids and strainers, make sure the strainers are in your box before you leave!
In the 1980’s Thailand banned commercial logging from’ its rapidly shrinking forests. While this was an environmental achievement, one unfortunate consequence was the traditional Thai mahouts or elephant trainers to you and I and their families along with their elephants were put out of productive work.
An ever increasing human population has also meant that there is less and less forest in which elephants can roam as freely as we would like them to in an ideal world. Whatever your views on this I never saw any animal being treated badly and were looked after with kindness and understanding.
Then in 1995 the Prakochaban Foundation was set up by Laithongrien Meepan, an amazingly kind and generous man known locally as Pi Om. He devoted his life to restoring the Asian elephant to their rightful place in Thai society as a, much loved and respected symbol of Thailand’s incredible history… and future.
With support from the Prakochaban Foundation, the former Royal Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya was turned into safe haven for sick, abused, injured and killer bull elephants in need of rehabilitation. Today, the Royal Kraal, once a compound where the king of Thailand kept captured elephants, is home to 90 such animals, all living happy and comfortable lives.