LODGE DES TERRES ROUGES, RATANAKIRI, CAMBODIA

Airavata

Khmer Elephant Foundation

In the old days every Ratanakiri tribe had its own elephants and the forests were so full of them that Vietnamese, Lao and Thai people came to capture them in Cambodia !

Yet with time passing Ratanakiri province started to loose its elephants who were sent to Siem Reap because the fast destruction of their native forest was putting them out of work.

An exceptional heritage was on the verge of immediate extinction, the elephants of course but also all the knowledge passed on from generation to generation by families of elephant hunters and mahouts.

That’s the reason why the AIRAVATA Foundation decided to buy the very last remaining animals, Ratanakiriri could not be stripped of one of its most prestigious symbols ! We are therefore very proud and happy to introduce you to the very last elephants of the province : Ikeo and her huge boyfriend Bokva, Kamsen, the grazing philisopher and Bak Maï the rebel, saved from a certain death in his native Mondolkiri province.

Your visit to our farm contributes to preserving a whole world of traditions !

Our Programs

Elephant ride

Small trip towards the South of Banlung, we stop at Okatchagn and Okatieng waterfalls before reaching Airavata. Introduction to the elephants and their mahouts before getting on the saddle for about 1h30 to the discovery of the nearby forest.
Duration of the tour, about 3 hours and a half.

Elephant «fun time» in the forest

Small trip towards the South of Banlung, we stop at Okatchagn and Okatieng waterfalls before reaching Airavata. Introduction to the elephants and their mahouts before you offer the elephants a «recreation», they will wander in semi freedom in the forest, eating and scratching at leisure while you walk besides them listening to the guide.
Duration of the tour, about 3 hours and a half.

Elephant “Spa”

Small trip towards the South of Banlung, we stop at Okatchagn and Okatieng waterfalls before reaching Airavata. Introduction to the elephants and their mahouts before going down to the river to wash and scrub the elephants then give them a treat of bananas. Duration of the tour, around 3h.

The elephant ride or the «fun time» can easily be combined with the «Spa», in this case the tour lasts about 4 hours.

Elephant “Mahout for a day”

Go to “mahout school” in the morning and learn the basics of riding an elephant, do a little test ride in the nearby forest before lunch then proceed with a siesta to avoid the hottest hours before undertaking a long ride in the forest in the afternoon to master what was learnt in the morning. Back from the ride we wash our friends in the small river nearby and reward them with treats before we leave.
Duration of the tour, about 7 hours, back in the afternoon.

(145$­­­­­­­­/person, transport & lunch included, 115$­­­­ for guests staying at Terres Rouges Lodge (for groups of minimum 3 people), 40% off for children below 12 years of age.)