Location
  • India
    • Jaipur
Length
1 to 4 weeks

Program Details

Language
English
Housing
Host Family

Pricing

Starting Price
350
Price Details
$350 for 1 Week in Total & $250 per week thereafter. No Application Fees required.
What is included: Arrival pickup from Jaipur, Program relevant materials, Accommodation in India Host Family, 3 Meal per day, Project Transportation, Weekend Sightseeings of Pinkcity Jaipur & 24 hours of admin support.
What is not included: Tourist Visa, Flights, Internet, Telephone Calls, Insurance Cover, and Airport Drop off.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Airport Transfers Equipment Meals Transportation Wifi
What's Not Included
Airfare Domestic Airfare SIM cards Travel Insurance Visa
Dec 02, 2024
Jan 03, 2025
35 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Volunteer Work With Elephants. Volunteers required to do care and help work for Elephants and their mahouts at one of the Elephant Camp in India which is also known as Elephant Village of India. For a long time now all the elephants located in Jaipur have not been living together. Every day, in the morning, the elephants in the city give tourist rides to Fort Amber. But this is tough for mahouts as well as elephants because there is a long distance to walk to the fort. In 2005 the Government of Rajasthan, India, has allotted a place in the area, 30 hectares of land near Jaipur, a place called Elephant Village. It has stable blocks for each elephant, it has housing for the animals; it also has a big man-made lake where the elephants can swim and get thoroughly washed after a day spent in the heat and dust.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • A memorable Elephant Experience in India
  • Affordable volunteer programs which includes your accommodation, 3 meals per day, airport pick-up,every day program transport facility
  • There is a project coordinator with volunteers at the Elephant Village site which helps volunteers and guides them with work & also translates if volunteers have any questions for the mahouts about the life of elephants.
  • Your program fees include sightseeing tour activity to visit Pink City - Jaipur.
  • There is no specific skill required for this program which is a plus point.

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Program Reviews

4.91 Rating
based on 43 reviews
  • 5 rating 93.02%
  • 4 rating 4.65%
  • 3 rating 2.33%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Impact 4.75
  • Support 4.95
  • Fun 4.85
  • Value 4.7
  • Safety 5
Showing 1 - 8 of 43 reviews
Default avatar
Angie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Just Do It

We had a fab 2 weeks working the team. A great team who know how to look after their elephants. We were made very welcome, some home work on our behalf would have helped us, like take a strong pair of DIY/Gardening gloves for picking up elephant poop, as the medical type just....don't do the job and there is no shovel!

I would love to do this again but would also like to understand more about the reserve while I was there, when we asked questions the answers were vague - our fault more home work required on our part. The accommodation we stayed in while in Jaipur was amazing the guys who where looking after use during our stay ensured we enjoyed the rest/sight seeing days they even organised a fantastic night out on the town, i thoroughly enjoyed myself

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
I would try and change the timings getting up at 4.30 am to be back at your hotel for 9am seems a bit of a waste. maybe include more of the admin side of the reserve once the elephant preparation is done or is it necessary to start work so early??
Pros
  • very confidence building
  • great fun
  • making friends with the elephants
Cons
  • getting up so early to be back at your accommodation 3 hrs later
63 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Keith
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Working with Elephants, Jaipur India

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What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Make sure to have inoculations recommended by GP. Mosquito bite protection is essential.
Acclimatise, mainly by drinking at least 2-3 litres of water per day.
Be guided by the Mahouts whdn with the Elephants
Pros
  • Experiencing an amazing culture and friendly local inhabitants
  • Such a satisfying experience
Cons
  • Early (bur necessary) start to the day
  • Be aware, host family are vegetarians.There are plenty of eateries in the city
  • It can get very hot around thd middle of the day
71 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Tyson
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

It was amazing, be prepared to clean lots of poop though.

Everyone in the program was amazing and I really got to take care of elephants, the elephants are amazing. The program had all sorts of activities to do and most if not all were very fun. We went to see camels and monkeys, and so many cool temples. We learned about the culture and really got to experience Jaipur. We also got to learn a lot about the Hindu religion and they're beliefs. You can go anywhere with your driver, though at times it can cost more so be aware. Your coordinator will offer you a bunch of day trips and stuff, you should go. All in all it was a great experience and a good way to experience animals and culture.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
I would have liked if we picked an elephant and stuck with them, I enjoyed seeing multiple elephants, but it would have been really cool to have one specific one.
Pros
  • Elephants
  • New food and learned very minimal cooking
  • Very friendly and fun staff
Cons
  • As I said you take care of too many elephants
  • Things that you may think are free are not
  • It's not a trip for someone who can't step out of they're comfort zone
62 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Yingli
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

memorable trip in India with VWI

We just had a memorable trip in India with VWI. Sukret is very responsive before and during the trip, which is extremely helpful. We didn't pick the best season to visit India, so it's pretty hot. But we didn't get any time spent in Inda wasted. The guides, drivers and the mahout for our giant girl 'Champa' are all very good. We spent decent time with the elephant and also did some sightseeing. India is definitely worth multiple visits. Will make another trip during Nov. to Mar when the weather is better.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
Choose a cooler season!
Pros
  • responsiveness
  • well organization
Cons
  • one of the hotels is less than ideal with noise issue, feedback has been send to VWI.
87 people found this review helpful.
Response from Volunteering With India

Thank you Yingli for the review.

Default avatar
Joshua
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Elephant Program

The team of program coordinators in Jaipur are excellent. They go above and beyond in making sure that you get the best out of your chosen program, and do a lot to make sure everyone gets a true Rajasthan experience, including sites, food, and other unique events. They were always friendly and positive no matter what issues arose. Rajasthan is a great place with a distinct culture from the rest of India. I highly encourage anyone joining the program to had sometime to visit parts of the province outside of Jaipur.

Pros
  • Unique experience
  • Meeting new people
  • Experiencing Diwali
Cons
  • Early wake up
  • Work is very physical
138 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Esther
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Happy experience

It was an amazing and heart filling experience to be in contact with the enormous beautiful elephants, their committed caretakers and staying with the local family at Prity Guesthouse. I also enjoyed the tours with the Subhash and the tuktuk driver. Overall the guidance and communication was great and felt very safe at all times.

Taking care of the elephants is a very grateful job to be so close and connected to the elephants. We drank a lot of chai and had a lot of fun. They were very enthousiastic involving me and also connect me to the other animals.

The family is very caring and I felt very much at home. Also they took me places which was really nice to learn more about Indian and Jaipur life, including dancing at the Navatri festival! The food was super delicious too.
I even extended my stay!

Pros
  • good combination of animals, people, food and sightseeing
127 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Sam
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Elephant project, Jaipur

Read More
132 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Richelle
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Volunteering with Elephant - Jaipur

Read More
Pros
  • Well planned
  • Punctuality
  • The volunteering experience itself
Cons
  • The cons of an underdeveloped country
188 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers

Here are the fees for the elephant program (in US $). You can find more information on their website! 1 Week 180 2 Weeks 360 3 Weeks 540 4 Weeks 720 5 Weeks 900 6 Weeks 1080 Extra Week 180