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(click on image above to see dtube video)
Today, I wanted to share something really special with you. While on my adventures in Thailand, I had the honor of visiting the Nature Reserve Forests in Pai. To learn more about them, check out their website here.
Before coming to Thailand, I really wanted to see an elephant up close. After doing hours of research on the Internet, I learned that most βelephant sanctuariesβ and βelephant campsβ were in fact pretty unethical. I didnβt want to support any place that used elephants for profit, and I definitely did not want to ride an elephant. I was about to give up on seeing an elephant in Thailand, when I stumbled upon Nature Reserve Forests.
This non-profit, works to restore the forest by using elephant poop as fertilizer. With this method, they were able to plant over 250K trees in 2017. In just 3 years of hard work, they grew a forest that usually takes 10 years to grow! They focus on plants that are near extinction and they are working on reviving the lands in Thailand. This year their goal is to plant 1 million trees! What an amazing goal.
I learned that each forest of trees they start has a ripple affect. The seeds of the trees are spread further when animals and insects carry the seeds. Their work is actually spreading plant life everywhere.
I had such an amazing experience at Nature Reserve Forest. I left more educated about deforestation and learned a lot about elephants. Did you know that there are only 40,000 elephants left on earth? There are only 4,700 elephants left in Thailand, and it is estimated that Thailand elephants will become extinct in the next 30 years. We NEED to do something about this!
So far, Nature Reserve Forest has rescued 4 elephants. As this non-profit is privately funded, they work really hard to save enough money to buy an elephant and rescue it from a terrible situation.
During my visit at Nature Reserve Forest, I got to meet Cammie, and I fell in love with this elephant. Cammieβs past is quite sad. People in Burma illegally owned her. She lived a hard life, dragging logs up and down mountains. When you look at her feet, her toenails are all ripped up from so much labor-intensive work. When she arrived at Nature Reserve Forest, she looked like she was an 80 year old elephants, when in fact she is only 31 years old. She was so skinny; no one knew that she was actually pregnant! For around 50K, they were able to buy her and give Cammie the life she deserves.
Nature Reserve Forests, is looking to adopt another elephant, so that Cammie can have a buddy. Elephants are quite social, and need the company of other elephants. As Nature Reserve Forest, currently cannot afford to purchase another elephant right now, they found Cammie a human buddy, Lung Chon, that hangs out with her 24/7. He is a guru when it comes to elephants, and he helps take care of her. Fun fact, Cammie, actually picked him to be her personal buddy.
(Here she is with Lung Chon)
Cammieβs journey will not end here. After she delivers her baby and her baby is strong, Nature Reserve Forest plans on donating her and her baby to the national park in Thailand, where she can live the rest of her life in peace with other elephants. Currently there are 91 elephants in the park. Elephants are not meant to be with people, they are meant to be with their own kind in the wild.
For now she spends her days at Nature Reserve Forest wandering and exploring the land. She gets to meet new friends like me, once a day for only 3 hours, where we are able to feed her bananas! She has to eat 40 kilos of bananas a day. It is our job to give them to her.
Cammie is such a character, as she is so spoiled here. She only eats bananas that are perfectly ripe and she prefers them pealed. If she is not satisfied with the banana, she will just throw it on the ground!
I love that Nature Reserve Forest, does not force her into the water so that tourists can βbathβ them. In fact, there is no set plan. Cammie goes as she pleases and stays as long as she likes. Typically after banana feeding, Cammie leaves for the day, but for some special reason, she decided to hang out with us the whole day. I felt so honored and I totally felt the love from her. It was such a magical experience, that when I left, I was tearing up. It is such a magical thing to be so close to an amazing creature.
I am so happy that I found Nature Reserve Forest and I learned about all of the amazing things they are doing for the environment and elephants. I hope this posts educates the public about animal cruelty and deforestation.
100% of the money made on this post will be donated to Nature Reserve Forest! Lets help this amazing non-profit out! Now more than ever, we need to unite together to save this plant.
I hope the money this post makes will give them a head start to adopt the next elephant they are looking to rescue. This next elephant will cost about 80K, so every bit helps!
Please upvote so we can give them a big donation! Thanks! Letβs show them what this Steemit community is all about. They do accept bitcoin, so I will be sending our love to them in crypto currency! YAY!
love,
Karen
βΆοΈ DTube
βΆοΈ IPFS
This place was so amazing!! It is so cool what they are doing for Kami and the forest
I entered a contest I feel will raise awareness for the Elephants. Please help me contact @karensuestudios Asap. The earning from the contest should be added to Nature Reserve Forest.
The link is https://steemit.com/stsl/@stsl/win-sbd-and-upvotes-for-60-days-share-the-steem-love-competition-no-15-is-now-on-enter-now
i like this elephant We're all thinking of Cammie and ensuring she and her elephant friends have a better future! thank you for sharing this post
There is nothing beautiful than nature
You got a 0.74% upvote from @allaz courtesy of @steem69!
There is nothing beautiful than nature
lol i just love those elephant trunks
Awesome lady, doing a good job for our planet...keep it up. Hence why you always have my upvote
Awww β€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ
Karen, you can't stop melting my heart with your awesomeness. I wish my voting power has some weight. Haha. Please check your wallet for my little SBD donation because my vote can't afford Cammie a finger of bananas. ππ.
Keep being you because @karensuestudios=AWESOMENESS.
awww! @emoji! Thanks for the donation! :) Every bit helps! :)
Well done @karensuestudios! You are doing this great cause for conservation and we need more initiatives like this!
We live in Thailand and we did go to visit one of these elephant sanctuaries and afterwards we did question somethings. We are sure the one we went to is trying to do their best to keep these elephants safe, but with more construction going on in the background we questioned their future motives.
Becca (the other half of @travelling-two) hasn't been up north yet, so Pai and this elephant nature reserve could be a place we shall visit soon.
We're all thinking of Cammie and ensuring she and her elephant friends have a better future!
Wow! Thatβs awesome! I wish I lived in Thailand! I do hope you go and visit, you will have such an amazing experience! We even got to plant a tree β€οΈ
If we do, we'll relate our influence back to you π Hopefully our resteem will convince a few people we know to upvote for a great cause. If you have the voting power why not.
What?! Trees with the elephant poop? That's too cool! I love that you were able to feed her too hehe. I love non profits like this that genuinely care about the animals/environment. We definitely need more.
Hehe! Thanks for stopping by! I couldnβt agree more! β€οΈ
you have my 100% vote + reshare. Hope we can all help them! ππππ
Aww thanks for the resteem! Every bit helps!
As a big fan of forests and animals, I can't do anything else than to give a 100% upvote here + resteem this!
Thx for your effort here!
awww thanks so much! Every bit counts! :)
OMG this is amazing! That's the type of content I love to see on Steemit π Full upvote and resteem
awww thank you so much for your support! Your talk at Steemfest, really moved and inspired me to give back! Thanks for all that you do! :)
Aaaaw thank YOU! That was sweet :-) I'm glad it was inspiring to you.
Love your energy and positivity! That's what we need more of here on Steemit :-)
:) aww thanks!
what an incredible experience that would have been, great pictures! the Nature Reserve Forest should get on steemit!:)
hehe right!?!? I'm going to surprise them by sending this post to them! Maybe they will join :) Would be amazing!
Wow, what an amazing story and thank you for sharing. That experience must of been so rewarding. I love animals , and it saddens me to see so many mistreated. I hope you take this post to the next level. Good Luck with this journey! i am looking forward to reading more!
followed and upvoted
awww thank you for your support! :)
Happy to support.
I like your post, everything in the heart to get into so much nostalgia, no longer meet this wonderful site
It is superππππΌ
Research has it that elephants are the most emotional animals and have remorse when one of them dies. They're also intelligent in the sense that they can trace the tomb or grave of one of them years later.
My upvote has no value for I am a newbie but my hopes and prayers are with this project. Thank you so much for initiating this one!
I understand your Feelings. One day our vote will be relevant and will count.. Let's just keep steeming
I'm looking forward for an update about these gentle giants. More powers to you!
Glad to see such an unselfish people.
WE ALL LOVE ELEPHANTS!! ELEPHANTS LIVES MATTER!
we should protect these animals...
Biggest sweeter animal lovely
Wow!! It's my dream to see an elephant upclose.. im so glad they make a nature sanctuary for this big fella. I feel so sad for those elephants who are been kept by humans. Cant wait for your next adventure. :')
Wow!!! That was really an amazing experience @karensuestudio. Since I was born, I have never seen an Elephant, apart from watching it in movies. I would love to be part of this great selfless service .
@karensuestudios, You know, the big iron!
hahha sure do! Made a good friend in Thailand!
amazing I wish you the best of luck!
animal elephants to be protected, I am very happy with you
Awesome idea! Thank you for doing this!
It's so awesome that Steemit allows us to do such amazing things! :)
You're too sweet and awesome, Karen <3
aww :) thanks Paola! Too kind! :)
Wow this is amazing. Resteemed!
thanks for the support! :)
No problem! I'm happy to support causes like this. :)
Hi, you have my upvote. This big Giants are so beautiful and must to be protected.
I love your post and post you very good friend thanks for sharing interesting things
very informative post...
thanks @karensuestudios
The smart big elephant. Nice...
Great Initiative. Good to see that everybody is not greedy for fame, rather through such little acts of kindness, we can bring change. Upvoted. Keep it up. It's gonna be a big achievement.
Awww thank you! β€οΈ Iβm glad I can give back!
Good work for the innocent creatures!
The world has to act swiftly to protect these species of animals ..... This is a good way to help the Government.... Kudos
Muy loable labor, y las muchachas trabajadoras son hermosisimas..hasta yo quiero ser un paquidermo para que me cuiden y mimen...
that is a great cause keep it up. I resteemed it maybe it will reach some more people,but with my following i would doubt it.
warum war das meinen abo feet
This is so awesome! Fantastic idea to spread awareness for them! π
On my website, I make tee shirts for them to spread awareness too. You are correct when you say every little bit makes a difference.
Also, so cool you were able to visit the elephants! :)
What thatβs so amazing! Do you have a link to your website?
Yes I do! I just didn't want to appear to be spamming your awesome article with links to take away from your post :) https://www.wondrouscre8tions.com
Aww no worries! You are sweet β€οΈ
Thumbs up! A great use of poop!
Hahaha right?!? I wish my poop was like gold! π
β€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ
God Bless you guys for doing this! Thank you
good post friend, I invite you to see my blog
votes my friends
Hola esta super interesante tu post. Que linda labor
Good on you. The ethical ones need all the support they can get. Resteemed.
β€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ thanks so much! π
I'll support as best as I can :)
Aww thank you! β€οΈ
I'm so happy to here abt the non profit organization and all the good things they are doing.. The elephant π is my favorite animal... And i wish all of them to be free... At least beeing taking good care of... Have a wonderful start on this week... And stay safe π
If you get a chance, you should visit them in Pai!
I will do for sure if I'm around once. Thanks π