By Branko Borkovic – 1 week volunteer

I had a very pleasant stay at Kindred Elephant sanctuary in which I stayed for 5 nights. It is located in a rural village around 5 hours from Chiang Mai which allows you to get right out of modern day life.

During my visit, I stayed at a home stay hosted by Noh Boh and her family who are a very nice family. Their English is very basic but we still managed to communicate and always made sure I had a comfortable stay. The home stay is basic but it has your essentials including a mosquito net, a fan and charging points. I was glad to see a western toilet and there is running water but it is cold however it’s great to cool down after a hot day. The family cooked all my meals which were all delicious and even let me help cook dinner with them in the evenings where I learnt many new skills.

The main reason for coming to Kindred was to see the elephants and every day we got to see them. On different days we got to see different herds which was great as we got to see how different elephants act. Throughout my stay, I collected data and wrote up diaries on the elephants which helps the sanctuary on their studies on elephants as well as learning how to collect scientific data myself.

Overall it was a good stay here at Kindred as you not only get to see the elephants in action but experience local culture which many other sanctuaries don’t offer.