If you want to take a gap year and travel the world, there are so many backpacking adventures and activities. But how do you make the RIGHT choice on your gap year?
Having had a love and appreciation for animals ever since she was a child, Sophie from the UK has often sought out animal volunteering programs when abroad. The level of animal welfare, or lack of, has, at times, been quite shocking to her.
Here she shares her experience and advice for how you can be a responsible backpacker on your next adventure.
Throughout my travels, I have experienced both good and bad animal tourism. The best being in the Ecuador, for the sheer informative nature of the destination and the tour guide, and the ability to learn about the evolution and adaptation of different species, whilst being able to view animals in close proximity, but the difference being these animals were free to leave of their own accord as and when they wanted.
The worst I’ve seen is in Thailand – this popular backpacking and tourist destination is known to massively exploit animals for the tourist trade, particularly, elephants, primates and tigers.
Many years ago, during my first trip to Thailand, I did an elephant ride. It was, as is so often the case, sold as part of a trekking expedition from Chiang Mai. I didn’t find it an enjoyable experience and felt a great deal of sympathy for this beast who was forced to carry tourists on its back day after day with an uncomfortable wooden chair strapped to its back, forever being prodded by its mahout’s bull hook.
Following on from this, I made the decision to become involved with gap year volunteer work at a wildlife rescue centre which is by far the most rewarding animal experience I have ever had. It is also the most saddening.
Seeing first-hand the pain and trauma experienced by animals rescued from the tourism trade is truly heart breaking. Drug addicted gibbons who were used as photo props, overweight bears from filthy zoos, elephants with saddles sores and leg injuries; the aftermath of those abused for the entertainment of tourists is horrific.
Elephant trekking is depicted in many brochures as a highlight of an experience in Thailand. But having seen wild elephants roaming free in both Africa and Asia, playing and interacting as a family in their herd, the prison-like conditions of trekking elephants are saddening.
From feedback I have gathered, you really shouldn’t ride elephants in Thailand. Many people who have ridden an elephant have actually not even enjoyed it, finding it quite boring after the initial excitement of being close to the elephant. But it continues to exist as one of the “must do” things in Thailand, simply because of ignorance and apathy.
There are other alternatives if you want to view these majestic creatures, including visiting elephant rescue centres in Thailand, though always check their credentials as some masquerade as sanctuaries but purely operate for monetary gain. Better yet, venture out into one of Thailand’s national parks, and you might be lucky enough to see one of the few remaining wild elephants.
Supporting national parks with your money, rather than misguided trekking camps, may also help the turbulent future of these wild creatures.