BLES Elephant Sanctuary

We had the great experience and pleasure of visiting an Elephant Centre in the north called BLES, www.blesele.org. We have been following the work of Katherine Connor for a while, and are really inspired and admire her so much for what she has achieved.

We contacted her via her website, and made arrangements to stay at the sanctuary. We flew into Sukhothai, the ancient capital, and checked into the Heritage Resort Hotel. The hotel arranges transfers from the airport, which has to be the most picturesque airport I have ever visited. The hotel was brand new, comfortable and was well air conditioned.

After breakfast we met Fa, our guide who drove us to BLES.

When we arrived Katherine was there to greet us, along with her Mum, her children, several dogs a few cats, a vet and of course the elephants. We quickly made our introductions and settled into out lodges, before heading straight out on a trek with the Gossip Girls as they are known.

It was truly amazing to be allowed by these animals to interact with them, both as curious as each other. Over the next few hours we just sat in the jungle observing them, watching them eat and socialize. It sounds boring, anything but, it’s all we did for four days. You live to Thai time, so up at dawn, breakfast and then out for a walk with the girls. They never disappointed with their personalities, I am sure they wanted to be where we were on purpose just so we had to move. They allowed us to get so close to them, it was an amazing experience we will never forget, but will repeat.

As a travel agent I try make people dreams come true, but try to stay away from causes and foster personal opinions. In this case I will make an exception.

Please remember when you tour the world, and you may see or get the opportunity to see Elephants, and the cute things they do like play football, or see a baby elephant on the beach, no matter how hard it is to resist, please do. The Elephants don't love it as you'd be convinced to believe, and though the baby elephants are incredibly cute, in my opinion the only place a baby elephant should be is next to its mother.

BLES and Katherine are just about to give a home to another Elephant currently in Phuket. Please have a look the website www.blesele.org and educate yourself on the plight of the Asian Elephant and give what support you can.