The foundation aiming to preserve the Kingdom’s elephant heritage

From ancient carvings and statues in magnificent temples, to popular folk legends, elephants have long been a part of Cambodia’s culture and traditions.

But today, like many nations across the world, elephant numbers are dwindling in the Kingdom. Most elephants today have disappeared from central Cambodia, with small populations surviving in the north eastern highlands and some Khmer speaking areas in Thailand’s Surin province.

But there is an organisation working to preserve the animal that has shaped the Kingdom’s history.

Airavata Khmer Elephant Foundation was created four years ago to protect the very last surviving tame domestic elephant population in Ratanakkiri province, as well as the traditions of their mahouts (elephant trainers).

Chenda Clais (pictured, supplied), the foundation’s president, is aiming to ensure the welfare of the animals by preserving the elephants’ natural habitat. The 49-year-old also works to research, revive and protect all elephant related traditions.

“We aim to perpetuate those traditions as they are constituent to the country’s soul, all the more that the wild elephant population is threatened each day a little bit more by deforestation and poaching,” the mother of three says.

A graduate in French Literature from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh born Chenda has combined her professional experience across NGOs, hotel and tourism management, and agriculture in her role as Airavata president.

Unlike most elephant conservation associations who discourage interaction between elephants and humans, Chenda has taken a radically different approach.

“When you look at what it means for elephants to be in the wild, especially in Cambodia with the poaching problem and the fast destruction of their habitat, you understand that responsible tourism might be the only sustainable way for them to exist,” she says.

Consequently, Airavata is a new generation elephant camp that is committed to a responsible and ethical alternative to mass tourism, providing natural conditions for travellers to meet the elephants which are cared for by indigenous mahouts.

The camp is located just a few kilometres from Banlung, a provincial town in Ratanakiri province.

Named after the white elephant ridden by the God Indra in Hindu mythology, the foundation offers eco-tourism activities such as elephant rides, which are carefully supervised and held in the animal’s natural habitat, the forest.

With 300ha of community forest in Katieng village, plus another 60ha of farmland, Airavata offers a natural refuge for a small herd of elephants.

“Those two large plots of land allow them to be able to forage for sufficient amounts of food in the jungle where they spend around 17 hours a day, the other seven hours are spent at the camp, during which the elephants are, when needed, provided with a diet of locally grown seasonal produce to supplement their jungle diet,” said Chenda, who won an Asean Outstanding Women Entrepreneurs award in 2018.

Chenda also works with the Kouy ethnic people, who have been able to sustain the Thai elephant population through captive breeding, as she believes that the most important thing is to maintain welfare standards that benefit the elephants in every possible way.

Read more...