Dayout with elephants in Jaipur, Rajasthan

AT ELEFANTASTIC, JAIPUR

Jaipur

Let me introduce you to a compassionate elephant sanctuary in Jaipur, India — Elefantastic.

Here, I saw firsthand how the caretakers treat elephants like family, and dedicate their lives to raising awareness about conservation and ethics.

Here, guests get to interact with these intelligent creatures in ethical ways, feeding and washing them, and decorating them with nontoxic/natural colours, bathing them and spending time playing/strolling with them!

Have you ever been up close with an elephant?

It’s incredible… these are the largest land animals in Asia, yet they’re so gentle and intelligent.

At Elefantastic, we saw that the elephants live in their own individual houses, which they share with their mahout and his family. The sanctuary is on a huge plot of land, and the creatures have plenty of room to roam freely (they are never tied up).

Elephants, normally spend 14-19 hours a day eating! They consume several hundred kilograms of vegetation daily. They are vegetarians and mainly eat leaves, tree bark, roots and stems. They droll over bananas and fruits!

Once our elephant, Shaku, had her meal, it was time to give her a makeover!

Elefantastic had provided a palette of non-toxic, organic paints that cause no harm to their bodies (I got some on my hand, and it washed right off with water). Since elephants don’t sweat and only have pores between their toes, this doesn’t clog up their skin.