I have always been a fan of slow travel. Of sinking into a place and watching how the days flow, how the light changes over time. Instead of running from place to place, spending one night here, two nights there, ticking that list of “must see’s”, packing, unpacking,having to keep to a time schedule.
It’s hard work! Exhausting. But I’m a tour guide, so that’s my job!
But for my own travels, I am slightly more about the experience than ticking an instagram list.
Slow travel takes time. It’s also kinder on the environment and (here is the best bit) you get to make a small and humble impact. A friend made, a garden revived, a dish that lives on in people’s memories.
An elephant or more.
I came across a Workaway when I was traveling home to Aotearoa NZ for a short time and needed a work for accomodation option that wasn’t going to tie me to working for an entire tourist season.
I met some lovely people, did gardens and lawns and walked beloved pets and then looked further…..Workaway is an international exchange platform after all.
Okay so there is also an elephant sanctuary? In Thailand?
Hang on a minute…is this a Dutch Foundation? (Yes it is!)
OMG
Turns out I had heard of the efforts of the good folk at Somboon when I lived and worked in India and hung out with their venerable wildlife rescuers Wildlife SOS more than a few years ago now.
To be frank, at the time I felt that they would be very lucky to make change for elephants in Thailand.
But here they were! Launched officially in 2019, surviving even Covid shutdowns, still in operation and with a solution that worked so well that I had no ethical concerns about supporting them as an ethical tourist.
Somboon Legacy Foundation rescues old retired elephants and provides a happy ever after retirement home for (currently) four elephants.
I signed up for six weeks and I have to say that the experience has been life changing for me.
Living and learning amongst the elephants has cemented my thoughts around considering my own impact as a traveler.
I’m asking myself what impact my presence has on the environment, how can I ameliorate that or how can I turn that into something positive, how can I make a meaningful contribution to the community who hosts me?
At Somboon I have learned enough to become an advocate for the Asian Elephant and for our natural world, and I got to share that with other visitors and guests.
But in the meantime there are the elephants who manage to turn every day into a gift just by simply existing.