Rickshaw Travel has made it their mission to stand up for elephants by replacing all elephant riding excursions with ethical elephant experiences. The team at Rickshaw believes travel can be a huge social and environmental benefit to the destinations they work with and they aim to maximise the benefit of tourism whilst minimising the impact, and working as sustainably as possible. This drive towards providing meaningful and sustainable travel experiences sits hand-in-hand with the need to ensure all the wildlife excursions Rickshaw chooses to feature are done so responsibly and prioritise the welfare of the animals. Under the guidance of its own dedicated team of Meaningful Travel Warriors focused solely on sustainability and acting responsibly, Rickshaw Travel has removed all elephant riding excursions from their programme and has introduced a new animal welfare policy that will extend to all trips.
Hannah Hesford, one of Rickshaw Travel's Warriors said: “We really felt it was time to talk about the elephant in the room. The issues around elephant riding is one that has bothered us for a long time and it became a major goal for us to ensure all the elephant experiences we offer are ethical. We no longer offer riding in any of our trips. Instead we offer just a handful of elephant experiences in Asia which not only prioritise elephant welfare above anything else, but we also strive to support local communities and enable travellers to see these gentle creatures in a more respectful and natural environment. No riding. No harnesses.”
The following carefully chosen ethical elephant experiences have elephant welfare at their heart, promoting both a natural environment for elephants and helping local communities with it.