Volunteer Work With Elephants

I have thoroughly enjoyed my 3 weeks volunteering with elephants! From my experience, each elephant is truly loved, respected and cared for by their mahouts. I think it is very easy (for Westerners especially) to judge and condemn the use of elephants for tourist rides, but after working closely with both the elephants and their mahouts, I encourage people to be more open-minded.
The actual work consists of waking early (arriving around 5.30am) where you begin by cleaning the area, washing the elephants, and feeding them bananas and chapattis. It’s hard work, but it gives you a real hands-on taster of what it’s like to look after these amazing animals, and the mahouts appreciate the help. The elephants all have very different personalities - some naughtier than others!
I always had a VWI coordinator with me too so if I had any questions, he was able to translate which helped a lot as the mahouts don’t speak much English.
I have felt welcomed, supported and valued during my time here. I would definitely recommend any of the VWI programmes for anyone keen to have a taste of the ‘real’ India!

We volunteered to join two projects with VWI and started at Elephant village. Upon arrival in Jaipur me and my husband were picked up from the airport late at night by the coordinator and immediately felt welcomed and taken care of. We received an itinerary which explained everything in great detail and was very helpful for us to understand what the elephant project involved. We were collected every morning on time at 5am. The coordinator for the elephant village was super flexible -if we woke up late it was never a problem. He met us as the sun started to rise with a big smile making everything joyful from the beginning . The work was much easier than we initially thought. The elephant huts were cleaned every morning followed by elephant showers and then feeding time. The elephants are working animals, this at first made us feel a little uncomfortable. But as the days went by and after learning more about the government scheme for families and elephants. The elephants are always very gentle and calm, and we soon realised that they were very well taken care of by their owners (mahout). We felt overwhelmed by their kindness and care- the mahouts who have very little demonstrated such patience and love for their individual elephants.. and so it was clear to us that this was a positive environment for them all.

I was able to work with the elephants for a week in Jaipur and in that time got hands-on experience with the elephants everyday! A typical morning would consist of cleaning out the elephants area followed by washing them with water and brushing them down. We were able to get to know the people who looked after them everyday and formed lovely friendships with them, which made the experience even better. The elephants were all so friendly, which meant we were able to constantly feed them treats such as bananas, which was such an incredible experience. The people working there made you feel very safe around the elephants, which increased my confidence when around the elephants. During the two afternoons we got to spend with the elephants, we were able to make chapati for them from scratch which was such a unique experience. During this time we also got to know the elephants better as well as feeding them more sugar cane. Overall it was such a unique experience and very fun! I would recommend it to anyone who likes animals and wants to be hands-on with these amazing creatures!

I volunteered with Elephants Program for a week because I wanted to discover those magnificent animals and to be in immersion into indian daily life, and I am fully satisfied. It's an unforgettable experience. The guesthouse family is lovely and always available to help you or happy to have conversations with you. The team members I met, Sukret, Rohid and Shekhear, were perfect. Everything was properly organized and booked. They take good care of me and, as a lonely traveler, I never felt alone. My experience with elephants was precious and mahouts' life is so interesting to discover. Elephants are so sensitive and intelligent animal and it is a great opportunity to discover it by myself.
Big thanks to the Prity Guesthouse family and to VWI team !
I definitely recommend this program.

Here are some photos we took during our unforgetable experience with Elephant Program.
It wasn't hard to wake up twice a week at 4:30 am to go to Elephant Village. We enjoyed leaving so early because we knew that we will see "our" elephants still sleeping or just awoken. It's a magical experience to look at them wake up gently at dawn. It's also very interesting to learn how to feed them (especially by making chapati ! It's a hard job !)

My wife and I stayed one week in Jaipur in September 2018. We choosed the Elephant Program of VWI. It was an unforgetable and a life time experience. It was beyond our expectations and we were very sad to leave after spending one week with the elephants and their mahout. Before staying there, we couldn't imagine how elephants are intelligent and also very sensitive animals.
We would like to thank Sukret and Govind for their kindness and availability.
It is a really wonderful experience for those who want learn more about elephants. But it's also an unforgetable human experience.

It is simply one of the best experiences you can have traveling abroad. Not only is it an authentic experience but you also get to give back and travel with a purpose and I loved every minute of it.

The organizers Sukret and Govind were just wonderful, and of course the guest house family. When I arrived as a solo traveler during November 2016, the black money crisis was going on and I was quite worried about withdrawing cash. I had only been in India 1 night and Sukret came to pick me up and covered the cost of my guest house expenses since I had no cash at the time. It was a large problem across the country. That gesture right from the beginning really wow'd me. Everyone went over and beyond to help me during my stay to ensure that I had enough cash to cover the basics and enjoy some of the tourism too. I am so grateful for their gracious hospitality. Also the food is fabulous

Furthermore, I clearly didn't read all the details but was pleasantly surprised with the activities taking place every weekend ( monkey temple, amber fort, bollywood movies, etc). However, if you are abit of a yogi Sukrets father does his morning yoga and is a great teacher. A great opportunity to start your day off right after you finish with the elephants first of course. They live not far from the guest house, but is still a drive away.

I spent a total of 2 weeks with the project and did 1 week teaching at the orphanage and the other with the elephants. A nice balance of being exposed to both projects.

I thought the accommodations were perfect since it is a guest house after all, you are a guest in their home so don't forget it. The family is very accommodating and look after you well. No need to hesitate to speak up though either if you need something. I would definitely recommend staying here, the location is seriously in a prime spot, you can walk to most things or are a short tuk tuk ride away:)

I actually volunteered twice for the Elephant program, once in 2014, and again in Feb 2015. It is a super fun program that not only gives you a once in a lifetime experience up close and personal with Elephants, but also gives you a window into the life of the people who own and care for these animals and their families.
You can expect to wake up early (4 or 5am.) And take a 20min tuk tuk ride to the Elephant Village. There is some dirty work involved, such as picking up the poop (they give you gloves) and emptying the poop in a field. But the experience is great, the elephants are friendly and love treats such as bananas, apples, oranges...after all your hard work, you'll enjoy a nice cup of chai and a chat with the mahouts. Maybe even an elephant ride or two!
***Be advised going into this program that this is not an Elephant rescue program, or a Elephant Reserve. These elephants WORK. They are used to give tours up to Amber Fort and other places around Jaipur. Sometimes they are used for weddings. Some of these elephants were rescued from circuses or other abusive settings and brought to the elephant village. They still are used for tours however. In this program I can tell you first hand that these elephants are properly cared for. They are provided with veterinarian care regularly (one had an ear infection and was visited by a vet and treated daily with topical ointment as well as antibiotics while I was there.) They are fed properly (probably excessively! They get lots of treats!) and all are provided shelter and bedding to sleep on. They are chained when inside their shelter, and they are chained while you are cleaning up around them. This is for the protection of the people working near them. Although elephants are friendly and peaceful, they are still a huge animal with a lot of power and capable of severe damage, even if it is unintentional. As far as other reports of use of a bull hook go, I have seen a bull hook in one location. I have never seen it used on any of the elephants. None of the elephants I was around ever had wounds indicating bull hook use, or any other kind of abuse. Some of the elephants, that came from previous circumstances, have old scars around their ears and top of their head. These are obviously very old, and have been healed many years. Never have I seen any elephant with any fresh wound anywhere.
Volunteers help in two ways in this program: 1) The fee you pay to do this program goes to help the families who own the elephants, as well as provide food and care for the elephants themselves. These families are poor. The elephant tours are their sole source of income for many of them. Some of them can hardly afford to feed themselves, let alone an elephant. This program ensures that the elephant is properly fed, cared for, sheltered, and has access to medical attention.
2) Helping the family clean and take care of the elephant in the morning gives the family extra time to take care of children, spend time together, eat breakfast together etc. before they go out to make their money for the day.
I enjoyed this program so much I came back a year later and did it again. I think it does a lot of good for these people, as well as the elephants. But if you're looking for an experience working at an elephant sanctuary or reserve for rescued elephants, this is not it.