By Poppy 4 week research intern –

My time at Kindred Spirit was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I have always loved elephants, and as a Biology student it is my dream to one day work with them and aid their conservation. Having the opportunity to see what this could look like was incredible and I already want to come back!

During my month at KSES I helped to collect data on elephant behaviour, foraging, and association on the hikes and it was really interesting to differentiate between their individual personalities and activities. I also used cameras to monitor the nighttime behaviour of 5 elephants. This is a very understudied topic for Asian elephants, particularly outside of zoos, so I felt very lucky to be able to gain an insight into how they spend their time. It was lovely to watch the videos back and see the elephants sleeping, scratching and eating all through the night! Junior is still hiding one of my cameras somewhere so if you find it, let me know!

The rain really hit in the final week of my internship which made for some slightly more eventful hikes which included sliding across bridges and crawling up muddy hills! That didn’t deter us though and these were actually some of my favourite hikes. The views across rice fields and mountains were always incredible.

Aside from the elephants, I also really enjoyed becoming immersed in the community and learning about the local culture. I have never experienced anything quite like this and was initially nervous about my how I would cope with village life, but I felt so welcome and managed to settle in almost immediately. Teaching English to the local women and children was one of my favourite activities, but I’m not sure that they quite understood the Hokey Cokey! Even the weekly litter picks were made fun with the help of a crowd of children and dogs and it’s safe to say the village was never too quiet!

Overall, I loved everything about my time at KSES and I am so grateful to all the people I met for making it such a fun and memorable experience. I have a feeling that I’ll be back one day…