By Thekla Schlawin – 2 weeks intern

My two weeks at KSES as a research intern were full of amazing experiences, beautiful elephants and an awesome community. Our daily hikes to the elephants were always different and I will really miss our rush back to grab lunch . Observing the elephants fascinated me every day. Especially how they use their trunk to get exactly what they want and how they take care of their family is so fascinating. Mae Doom is such a cool aunt to Junior always making sure he is safe and Dodo trying to get some corn from the corn fields well knowing he is not allowed to eat the corn made me always laugh.

But the project is so much more than observing elephants and learn more about Asian elephants and their behaviour it is also about the local community. I learn so much about the Karen lifestyle and the culture and their languages – asking for more rice works more or less ;P. The food will always be one of my highlights of my time at KSES – even though every day the main dish was rice. The English lessons on Tuesday evenings and visiting the nursery where so much fun.

At my time at KSES I read a question in a book “Why not leave every place a little bit better than you found it?” I thought a lot about that. The KSES project is a project which makes the world a little bit better. Not only by providing the elephants a good life and giving people the opportunity to visit an ethical sanctuary but also in taking care about the nature. I am so grateful to had the opportunity to be part of such an incredible project, learning from people who are so passionate about their work and see how they try to make the world a bit better – one step at a time – as it is written on a wall at the base.
Thank you! Da Blue!