A foreign conservationist in Yok Don National Park

Since 2018, Animal Asia has coordinated with Yok Don National Park (Dak Lak) to transform the tourism model using elephants. The project has just finished the first phase after five years of implementation and preparation, entering the next stage.

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Specifically, this project was initiated to replace elephant riding tourism and activities directly affecting elephants with an eco-friendly, elephant-friendly tourism model.

Accordingly, in July 2018, Animals Asia committed to sponsoring a maximum amount of USD 65,000 for the implementation period (in five years from July 2018 to June 2023) to support the model of friendly tourism without elephant riding.

The project aims to promote, educate, and raise awareness of elephant protection and conservation for the community around the conservation area and across the country. Besides, animal experts assist with consultancy for the elephant care area to ensure it can be safe for both elephants and visitors.

Change the way we treat elephants

With slightly long hair tied in a small bun at the nape of his neck and a neatly worn picnic outfit, Animals Asia’s Director of Animal Welfare - David Neale - has an appearance that exudes closeness to nature.

Nine years ago, the Dak Lak Elephant Conservation Center invited David and his colleagues at Animals Asia to assist injured elephants being rescued at Yok Don National Park. At that time, David’s organization offered some advice on how to care for injured elephants.

Sometime later, while working in Yok Don, Animals Asia received information from this National Park about the desire to change the type of tourism with elephants.

“They wanted to stop elephant riding and instead have a more ethical, friendly tourism program, with both elephants and tourists visiting Yok Don National Park,” David Neale recalls.

The two sides found a mutual voice as Animals Asia was also concerned about the elephants’ welfare and health and wanted to change how people treat elephants. At that time, elephant riding was the most popular form of exploiting elephants in the region.

The project support and collaborate with local people to change how they treat elephants. “Of course, the people here were interested in our solution,” says Animals Asia’s Director of Animal Welfare.

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Henceforth, the parties jointly launched the project to transform the tourism model using elephants. Animal Asia signed a contract to stop exploiting elephants for tourism while ensuring people’s livelihood.

“That’s how we started in 2018. At first, it was pretty good but then the pandemic hit and there were no more tourists. At that time, we had to provide support so that Yok Don National Park could continue to care for the elephants and the staff’s livelihood,” David Neale informs. However, after Covid-19 passed, the number of tourists increased and the program became successful.

The 2026 target

Sharing about the resources to carry out this project, Dave says: “We are a charity and our resources come from the public. The public contributes from all across the world.”

Animals Asia promotes their animal conservation projects and calls for everyone’s support. Dave admits he and his colleagues are fortunate that all of Animals Asia’s conservation programs have received public consensus.

In addition to elephants in Yok Don, this organization also initiates bear rescues in other national parks such as Tam Dao and Bach Ma. As in Yok Don, these projects receive excellent support and improve animal welfare in these areas.

Back to the elephant conservation program in Yok Don, after the success of the first five years, the project has just been implemented in the second phase with another five years between Animals Asia and the garden.

“We really wanted to develop this project. The more elephants we can bring back to Yok Don National Park, the more tourists will come to see those elephants,” Mr. Neale shares more about the project’s future.

In addition, Animals Asia also reached an agreement with the People’s Committee of Dak Lak province to stop elephant riding by 2026: “We will have three more years to accomplish this goal.”

Solutions for both domestic and wild elephants

Responding to a question about the project’s goals and advising Vietnamese authorities to improve elephant conservation efficiency, Animals Asia’s Director of Animal Welfare affirms that this mission is significant. It will benefit not only captive elephants and riding elephants but also wild elephants.

He informs that the number of wild elephants in Vietnam is very small, and they really need help: “They need help from all Vietnamese people to ensure that they do not become extinct in your country.”

Thus, the project between Animal Aisa and Yok Don National Park not only preserves and improves the welfare of elephants but also helps raise public awareness of the animal’s plight and hopes to have more people support them.

“We are trying to help people understand elephants better than long-held beliefs. We try to promote elephant welfare,” Dave added.

The expert asserts that elephants are very social animals and they need to live among their kind. Elephants are also brilliant animals, so they need to be exposed to their natural environment and experience it in their way.

The most important message that this Animals Asia representative wants to share with Vietnam is that he wants the knowledge and information about elephants to be spread more widely to the public.

“We want people to support bringing these elephants back to the forest, back to the wild, rather than keeping them in private tourist areas,” Mr. David Neale emphasizes.

In December 2021, the People’s Committee of Dak Lak province and Animals Aisa signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop an elephant-friendly tourism model, which contains the following content:

“The People’s Committee of Dak Lak Province will take necessary measures within the scope of its functions and powers to minimize and aim to not organize activities affecting the welfare of domestic elephants. We aim to limit elephant rides for tourism; competitions such as elephant swimming, elephant kicking, elephant running, elephant tug of war; elephants parade for hours on asphalt or concrete roads, or using elephants to recreate scenes of hunting and taming elephants, etc.”

This MOU was concretized in November 2022 when the People’s Committee of Dak Lak province approved the project to transform the tourism model using elephants. The project’s implementation period is from November 2022 to December 2026.