Elephant Conservation Center

The Elephant Conservation Center, located in Sayaboury in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, acts to preserve and protect the Asian elephant, a species that is on its way to extinction. Created in 2010 by a team of experts, its program is set up around the wellbeing of the animal, the reproduction, vet care, and the schooling of mahouts. The Center only welcomes elephants that have been working in the logging industry or mass tourism, but there are also some elephants that were born because of the Baby Bonus programme, which was set up by the Center. Our herd, today about 30 elephants big, can enjoy 530 hectares of protected forest. This large area is of great importance to the quality of life of the elephants, who consume more than 200kg of food each day. Financed almost exclusively by ecotourism activities, the Center welcomes its visitors in a family environment where the wellbeing of the elephants stays the priority: they have no obligations, nor are they submitted to touristic rides. The Elephant Conservation Center is the only active member in Laos of the Asian Captive Elephant Working Group, an international organisation that works on the welfare for elephants under human care. Committed more generally to substantive work for the preservation of Asian elephants, the Center offers new working conditions to mahouts and new breeding opportunities for their elephants. Through several projects, it has the opportunity to inform the disadvantaged populations of the country, which traditionally live from the work of elephants. In addition, we set up a unique project called "Back to the wild". This incoming programme is focused on the rewilding of elephants in Nam Pouy National Biodiversity Area.