International Children’s Day:
passing on and sharing
As International Children’s Day approaches, we wanted to highlight a key part of our commitment: raising awareness among the youngest generations.
At Mekong Elephant Park, the low season is also a valuable opportunity to strengthen our local roots.
This year, we launched a project that was particularly close to our hearts: welcoming schools from Pakbeng throughout the green season.
A project we had long hoped to bring to life in 2026 and whose first steps have already been incredibly encouraging! Nearly 400 children, teachers, and parents are expected to take part. Above all, for the first time, the experience is open to everyone, including children under the age of 6.
Highlights of the day include:
• Understanding why protecting elephants and forests is essential
• Observing elephants in their natural environment
• Watching them bathe in the Mekong River
• Sharing breakfast with our eldest resident, Mae Kham
• Enjoying a creative drawing session
• Get together for lunch
Each child leaves with a small kit (notebook and pencils), as well as a T-shirt, to extend this experience beyond the visit.
But this initiative doesn’t stop at the borders of Laos.
Following a visit by Marylin, a Year 5 pupil at Chuzelles Primary School, a wonderful initiative was launched. Deeply moved by her visit to the park, she told her teacher about it, who then got in touch with us. Together, we organised a live session with her class in France.
It became a wonderful moment of exchange, filled with fascinating questions linked to their theme of the year: small creatures. We explained how elephants play an essential role in the balance of nature and help many smaller species survive.
For example, their footprints, filled with rainwater, become tiny ponds where mosquitoes, frogs, aquatic insects and sometimes even small fish can live. Even elephant dung becomes a true micro-ecosystem for insects and many other small creatures.
This live session was a wonderful moment of curiosity, sharing and learning, connecting Pakbeng to a classroom thousands of kilometres away.
Because children are the future, everywhere in the world. The exchanges and awareness we share with them today will help shape the way they view elephants, the forest and all living things tomorrow. We hope they will grow up with a deeper respect for nature and, in their own way, become future defenders of this precious balance.
Our elephant bells ring out as far as the French countryside
Sometimes, memories of the Mekong Elephant Park travel much further than expected…
This time, it’s our elephants’ traditional bells, handmade by our mahouts, that have traveled across the world to join… some goats in France! In miniature version, of course!
A huge thank you to Laëtitia, Alice and Lisa for these photos and this little message that truly touched us:
“A photo of our little billy goats, who now proudly wear the mahouts’ wooden bells! We hear them day and night and never grow tired of the sound. Through this little melody, the elephants are still with us in a way.”
Little gestures like these remind us how much the encounters at the park continue to live on long after the trip is over. Thank you for taking a little piece of Pakbeng home with you.
The Famous Four in great shape
When the green season transforms the elephants’ daily lives too…
Over the last few days, our Club of 4 have been gently enjoying the season. With the return of the rains, the vegetation around the park is coming back to life and the females are making the most of it. Cooler temperatures, more shade… a time of year the elephants particularly enjoy.
Mae Ping, Mae Nat and Mae Nin quickly headed into the water… while Mae Kham, true to herself, stayed close by but never once set foot in the Mekong! A scene that has become almost routine for our eldest resident, who far prefers dust baths to swimming. Simple, peaceful moments, exactly the kind we love to witness in the sanctuary’s daily life and wanted to share with you.
Wallpaper of the month
This month, our wallpaper features our Famous Four enjoying a peaceful and refreshing moment together in the Mekong. A tranquil image that beautifully reflects daily life at Mekong Elephant Park, where nature, water and a gentle pace of life come together.
