Kathrin Hilde's Project Made

Click on the picture, watch and enjoy!!

Hanging out with elephants has always been a dream of mine, ever since I stuck my nose through the fence at our local zoo. These magnificent creatures were so strong, yet so gentle and beautiful. And most of all, sad behind those bars.

As I started caring more and more about animal rights, I stopped visiting zoos but have missed these creatures ever since. Now in Thailand, there was a unique chance to see them in all of their grandeur.

It is not as easy as this though. Much of Thai animal tourism is incredible cruel and much worse than anything I had seen in European zoos. To make elephants and tigers manageable, their spirits are broken early in age by beating them with hooks, chaining them up, keeping them in the tiniest environments and drugging them up until they almost faint.

Some organizations, like the Elephant Nature Park north of Chiang Mai, do incredible work to change this situation. Watch me as I take a very exclusive tour through one of their less visited sanctuaries in the highlands and join me when I feed them, hike with them and, best of all, get really messy when jumping into the mud with them.

Enjoy the mud show! And if you can do me this solid: Never take pictures with drugged tigers, and never ride an elephant!

Thank you!