Koh Lanta (Thailand) – February 5, 2020 (travelindex.com) – The ecotourism refuge of Koh Lanta has reopened its gates as Following Giants and is now a truly elephant-friendly place.

In collaboration with the leading animal welfare organization World Animal Protection, Following Giants now offers a better life for elephants and an authentic, ethical elephant experience for visitors.

Here, visitors spend time with elephants who are free to roam the forest, graze, and bathe in the river, mud, and dust while interacting with each other.

The elephants move forward without being forced to perform tricks, offer rides, bathe with people, or interact with them. Elephants are wild animals, and although they may appear happy, they suffer from close contact with humans.

In 2017, Charae 'Ray' Sangkaow, the owner of Eco-tourism Koh Lanta, contacted World Animal Protection to transform his existing elephant tourism and trekking camp into an elephant-friendly business model.

Ray grew up with elephants from the age of six and is the fourth generation of his family to live with and for elephants. His deep love for elephants drove him to give these gentle giants the best possible life. This led him to World Animal Protection and to transforming his trekking camp into a facility with high animal welfare standards, dedicated to the well-being of elephants.

Following the collaboration between Giant and World Animal Protection, the venue's infrastructure was developed and training was conducted to ensure that the new venue would be a success for both elephants and visitors.

Located high up in the lush green mountains of Koh Lanta, where wild rainforests and rows of rubber trees are home to monitor lizards, paragliders, crab macaques and 134 species of birds, which share this idyllic tropical paradise with elephants.

Visitors can observe elephants in their natural habitat as they peacefully and harmoniously go about their daily lives, undisturbed and simply living the life they were born to live.

The main attraction is a jungle trek where participants follow elephants through the rainforest and are led by them. This is the perfect opportunity to observe the natural behavior and socialization of elephants.

Visitors can also participate in reforestation activities, such as planting seedlings and making "seed bombs" which are then hurled across the grounds with a slingshot. All of this helps to replenish the forest with native vegetation – an important part of the elephants' diet.

Elephant handlers play a crucial role in the physical and mental well-being of elephants. Therefore, World Animal Protection supported the elephant handlers of Following Giants with essential training to ensure the elephants are in the best possible hands. As part of their training, they spent a week at Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) in Sukhothai. There, in a dedicated observation enclosure, they learned all aspects of elephant care, mastered various positive reinforcement training methods, and accompanied veterinarians at the Krabi Elephant Hospital to learn basic elephant first aid.

All guides and office staff were trained to educate visitors about the behavior and history of elephants and to explain why the pure observation model is the most ethical way to experience elephants.

Visitors to Following Giants can expect a lush jungle landscape where elephants roam freely. To observe the animals in their natural habitat, where they can simply be elephants, a treehouse in the canopy is available. Alternatively, visitors can use one of the two viewing platforms. The elephants also have a brand-new pool where they can bathe, play, and cool off from the jungle heat. Our visitor center offers everyone the opportunity to learn more about these gentle giants and the history of the site. At our breeding station, visitors can also make seed bombs to help ensure the elephants' food supply.

Following Giants, this is the second conversion of an elephant riding camp into an animal welfare-compliant, elephant-friendly facility by World Animal Protection in Thailand, after the successful transition of ChangChill in Chiang Mai.

World Animal Protection is an international non-profit animal welfare organization that has been active for over 50 years and is committed to a world where animal welfare matters and animal cruelty comes to an end.

To arrange a viewing appointment, please contact the owner, Charae Sangkaow, directly at: [email protected] or by phone at: +66 (0)84 744 7060

About World Animal Protection: From our offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, India, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Thailand, the UK, and the USA, we are making a difference around the world by protecting animals. In 2018, through our campaigns focusing on wild animals, disaster-affected animals, urbanized animals, and farm animals, we helped improve the lives of more than 3 billion animals. Since launching our "Wild Animals Not Entertainers" campaign in 2015, more than 1.6 million people have joined our cause to protect wild animals from abuse and cruelty in the name of entertainment.