A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO INTERACT WITH RETIRED TIMBER ELEPHANTS AND ENCOUNTER with THE ENDANGERED IRRAWADDY DOLPHINS

Our activities take place in camps located near the town of Katha in Myanmar’s Upper Sagaing region in the far north of the country. The Katha camps are designed for small groups and easy access, while still providing participants with a deep experience of remote, rural Myanmar. Contact with elephants is entirely free of the staged atmosphere of captive elephant camps in other parts of Asia.

The itinerary includes a three-day trip down the Irrawaddy River on a teak river boat and a chance to encounter the elusive and endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins. Cruising days are peppered with exploration of little known Buddhist and Animistic shrines, as well as thriving markets that barely see tourists.

The trip is structured so that you come away with a better understanding of working elephants and their mahouts (care-givers). Each traveller is assigned an elephant, and briefed on how to interact with it. There is proper etiquette involved: elephants sense it when you offer respect and kindness - and given the intelligent beings they are, they reciprocate.