Baan Kwan Chang - Koh Chang

Experience The Ban Kwan Chang Elephant Camp
The Ban Kwan Chang Elephant Camp was set-up to help fight the freighting statistics that the Asian elephants are now facing in terms of slow decline. The camp itself is supported by the Asian Elephant Foundation and is located on the Koh Chang island.

To get a real experience of the camp, you are able to go on half day elephant trekking tours in the morning, where you will be taking to various locations on the trek and get to have a break so the elephants can get to have a feed on the way.

You will quickly notice how happy the elephants are within their habitation because of the access they have to the natural resources of the trees and plants.

There is around 7 elephants altogether on the Ban Kwan Chang camp site all of which have different personalities. Even if you don’t fancy going for any elephant trek, there is other things you are able to do on the camp such as bath them, feed them and even watch a performance

However because the camp is a place for the elephants to feel safe and secure the performance is not a requirement and as such it only set aside to the ones that are already trained.

The Asian Elephant is officially classified as highly endangered. There are as few as 50,000 elephants remaining and both wild and domesticated elephants face grave threats to their existence. The major threats to Asian elephants are loss of habitat and the resultant human-elephant conflict. Asian elephants are disappearing from vast areas where they were once plentiful. Ban Kwan Chang Elephant Camp was set up to help combat this frightening statistic by giving retired show and logging elephants a safe and comfortable sanctuary. Ban Kwan Chang is supported by the Asian Elephant Foundation.

Ban Kwan Chang is only a 5 minute walk from Jungle Way, and is a truly marvelous experience, something not to be missed when you visit Koh Chang.

The camp offers a half-day elephant trekking tour from 8.30am to 11:00am, which includes elephant bathing, feeding, performance and a 1.30 hour elephant trek into the forest. The cost is 900 Baht and includes water and bananas (to feed the elephants) as well as hotel transfer if you are not staying with us at Jungle Way. A shorter 35-minute trek with a 15 minute performance is also available for 450 Baht. The camp is a sanctuary for its elephants, and as such, performances are not mandatory for elephants, and are only given by those that were previously trained to perform.

During elephant treks, which your mahout (or elephant keeper) will lead, expect to stop at numerous points so the elephants can feed on the dense foliage. It becomes immediately obvious that an elephant on a trek is a happy elephant as it has access to plants and food it would not normally have at the camp!

There are about six elephants of varying ages and personalities at Ban Kwan Chang, and their mahouts (several speak English) show a deep devotion and respect to their own elephants. There is also a lot of written information available at the camp. Even if you aren't game for a ride on an elephant, you can buy bananas at the camp and feed them to the elephants while enjoying the jungle views.

Jintara was born in 1983 in the Surin Province of Thailand. She has a great disposition and is always playful, naughty and cheerful. She prefers to hold the brush without a handle, rather in the tip of her trunk. She started out making very high, up and down brush strokes, often painting more of the tree behind the easel than the easel itself, but once she found the canvas, she soon crafted her own style.

Once she got it down, she really started to enjoy the painting process and was rocking her head back and forth while rhythmically swinging a front leg, as if dancing while she was painting. Her painting style maintains a raw, free-form energy, as can be witnessed in her explosive, yet exquisite works.

Peud, Jintara's mahout, was ordained as a monk in March of 2003, and has since returned to take care of Jintara.

Baan Kwan Chang ( Koh Chang island )

Koh Chang Island , Trat Province 23170 Thailand.
Tel : 081-9193995 (Thai) , +66 89 223 4795 or +66 89 247 3161 (English)