Thai Foundation

Elephants are tourist magnets, they are on everybody's bucketlist when they visit Thailand. Many people unknowingly contribute to animal abuse. The team saw the abuse elephants endure in places that call themselves "sanctuaries", where they mislead unknowing tourist with words as "animal friendly" and "Sanctuary". Wild animals suffer a lifetime for tourist entertainment while the money often goes to the owner of the "sanctuary" and not the elephants. Our motto is: "It's time to make a real change, we are going to make a difference". Somboon is an example of the ethical change in the animal tourism industry. Because of their complete hands-off policy the elephants can be themselves in a stess-free environment.

Somboon's elephants live in a natural environment where they roam freely and socialize with each other. They have no physical contact with tourists this limited to the mahouts (elephant caretaker)

To create awareness Somboon has opened an interactive elephant museum. In this education centre, for young and old, you learn about the history and current situation of elephants in a fun an playful way. Besides the observing of and working for the elephants, it is an inspiring and educational program. "knowledge is power and in this case animalwelfare" World Animal Protection Netherlands.