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March 3, 2020 | Last Modified: 2020

Travel Experience

AIRAVATA is a “new generation” elephant camp, a responsible and ethical alternative to mass tourism. Located a few kilometres South of Ratanakiri’s capital, AIRAVATA is a place where indigenous mahouts treat elephants in the best possible way as they enjoy their work. There, travellers can meet the gentle giants in optimum natural conditions.

Responsibility

The Aïravata project was born of the need to protect the very last elephants of Ratanakiri province at a time when these magnificent animals might disappear not only from Ratanakiri but from Cambodia. A Conservation Project that is both cultural, ecological and social, AÏRAVATA allows a real interaction with elephants and teaches the public to know them, to take care of them and to ride them themselves. The foundation concentrates on the surviving domestic population and keep offering, among other eco-tourism activities, the traditional elephant rides, but carefully supervised and in the elephant’s natural habitat, the forest.

Business Case

Airavata is a localised answer to a number of ecological problems which have been affecting Ratanakiri for over two decades. At our humble local level, we strive to safeguard what we can of an exceptional heritage and share it with the people who make us the honour to visit our province. The essential idea is to offer guests a number of eco-friendly activities in OKatieng forest in order to generate sufficient profit to offer local people an alternative to logging and wildlife trafficking.

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AIRAVATA is a “new generation” elephant camp, a responsible and ethical alternative to mass tourism. Located a few kilometres South of Ratanakiri’s capital, AIRAVATA is a place where indigenous mahouts treat elephants in the best possible way as they enjoy their work. There, travellers can meet the gentle giants in optimum natural conditions.

The Aïravata project was born of the need to protect the very last elephants of Ratanakiri province at a time when these magnificent animals might disappear not only from Ratanakiri but from Cambodia. A Conservation Project that is both cultural, ecological and social, AÏRAVATA allows a real interaction with elephants and teaches the public to know them, to take care of them and to ride them themselves. The foundation concentrates on the surviving domestic population and keep offering, among other eco-tourism activities, the traditional elephant rides, but carefully supervised and in the elephant’s natural habitat, the forest.

Airavata is a localised answer to a number of ecological problems which have been affecting Ratanakiri for over two decades. At our humble local level, we strive to safeguard what we can of an exceptional heritage and share it with the people who make us the honour to visit our province. The essential idea is to offer guests a number of eco-friendly activities in OKatieng forest in order to generate sufficient profit to offer local people an alternative to logging and wildlife trafficking.

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