Volunteer With Elephants India

Project Fact File
Project Duration: Minimum 1 week stay up to 4 months.
Project Fees: From $350 for 1 week and $250 for each week thereafter. Pay when you arrived at project site. Students will get 10% Discount in Fees which are joining the project for min 4 weeks.
Project Availabilities: All year round – Dates are flexible you can choose your own start and finish date.
Requirements: We don’t need any qualification for this project. Volunteers must have lots of love & enthusiasm for the project.
Location: Jaipur, India.
Project Activities: Feeding the elephant, bathing them, Massage of elephant, cleaning the area, making bundles of hay & help mahout in making chapattis.
Working Hours: Monday to Friday 4 hours per day.
What is included: Application fees, Arrival pickup from Jaipur, Program relevant materials, Accommodation, Meal, Transportation, Visit to local area, Weekend Sightseeing’s and 24 hours of admin support.
What is not included: Tourist Visa, Flights, Internet, Telephone Calls, Insurance Cover, and Airport Drop off.

Click on the Facebook image to see images for the project

The Program
If you want to work with elephants then you are in the right place. VWI gives you the possibility to do elephant care program in the Heritage City Jaipur, India. The program will be held in the village, near Amber Fort, which is also knows as Elephant Village where more than 100 elephants get care by their mahouts every day. Elephant Village is very close to the Royal Amber Fort. India’s first and the world’s third elephant village. Government of Rajasthan, India has allotted this place in the area of 30 hectares of land which has stable blocks for each elephants with attached housing; it has also a big man-made lake where the elephants can swim, play and gets thoroughly washed down after a day in the heat and dust. The Program has created to give care to the elephants and help their mahouts. Elephant village needs volunteers and support from local peoples to care these big beauties. As it has been seen from last few years that we are losing the population of elephants from everywhere. We really need to save this creature from the planet & provide them good care and love.

Work for Volunteers
In this program your main task will be to help mahouts and give the care to the elephants as they are going to work hard for the day. Your work will be feeding the elephants, bathing them, cleaning the area, bringing water, go for a ride with any elephant, make bundles of hay and chapati for elephants in a mud stove to eat. You need to wake early as the elephant starts early to give a ride for the tourists of Amber Fort. Volunteers will work around 3 to 4 hours per day. During summers working hours will be from 5am to 9am and in winters from 6am to 10am. Working hours has made short for the volunteers as it has founded that 4 hours of working in Elephant Village becomes hard work in a day for volunteers. If you would like to work more in this activity you can join afternoon and evening shifts.

Employees
The local mahouts are working with elephants to take care of them. There is a program coordinator with volunteers at the project site which helps volunteers and guides them with work & also translates if volunteers have any questions for the mahouts about the life of elephants.

Expectations
We expect volunteers to not act as if they are here as tourists, they must do the work they are here to do. They need to understand that they come for work and need to live like the people here live, respect the culture and get involved with all that is happening in India.

Arrangement of Room, Food & Transportation
VWI makes arrangements for room, food and transportation for the volunteers, from the first day of the volunteer’s arrival in Jaipur, India. You will live in a lovely house which is nearby Water Palace and Nahargarh Fort. The house is typical Indian style which is also very close to the Famous Govind Devji Temple. If you go on the terrace you can see beautiful view of Jaipur which is covered by Forts on Mountains. There are 4 family members lived in the Host family which have their rooms on ground floor. Volunteers have rooms on the first floor which can be shared by the other volunteers in our other projects. You will be sharing your room with the same gender. Our host families are carefully screened and selected based on VWI requirements. You will be getting 3 Meals per day (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner), traditional but very nutritious. There is internet connection facility also available at Host Family. You will have a very good access through computer & by Wi-Fi access. We also arrange transportation facility for volunteers which will everyday pick you to project site and drop to your home when you finish work. You will have everyday auto-rickshaw (tuk-tuk) ride for Transportation.

Shopping and supplies
There are many shops near the accommodation where volunteers can go and buy stuff for their requirements. The accommodation facility in the main city area of Jaipur so it’s easy to buy anything as shops are in walking distance. If a volunteer wants to go in Branded Shopping mall they need to take a Taxi ( Tuk- Tuk ). When our taxi driver is not taking them to the project site, he can be hired by volunteers to take them to the Branded Shopping mall, but they have to pay him.

What you will gain from this project
>A memorable experience for how to care the Elephants.
>An enormous satisfaction from inside as you worked who have your needs.
>An unforgettable memory by spending time in India.
>Opportunity to learn Indian culture, language and their traditions.
>An entry in your CV as you have worked in under-developed country that will boost your profile in job market.
>Life time member with VWI after completion of your project.

Volunteer Week Detail
Day 1: Today you will arrive in Jaipur. Our VWI staff member will pick you up from your arrival destination & welcome you. After picking you up, we will bring you to our office. We introduce you to the project, your everyday working schedule, we talk about the host family, rules and regulation of volunteering, what to do & dont’s. which can be useful to you throughout your trip & guide you to the facilities which a traveler needs in new place. After this we will transfer you to your host family . We will introduce you to the host family members and we will guide you through the accommodation facilities and the things which are near.
Day 2 to working days: Get ready to see your animals. You will be transfer to your project site. It’s time to get a wonderful ride by auto-rickshaw for the elephant village as it located near Royal Amber fort. Project site is covered by beautiful mountain valley. Our project coordinator will be with you there & he will tell you about how to care the elephants & help the mahouts. Your work will covered there every day by bathing elephants, feeding them, cleaning the area, making bundles of hay and massage them throughout your working days. Volunteers’ working days will be for 5 days per week Monday to Friday.
Weekends: The weekends are free for you to relax and enjoy Pinkcity. Every weekend we cover sightseeing of the Beautiful Historical places, Cultural places & programs with our VWI staff team. Volunteers have opportunity to meet with other volunteers also from other projects sites as everybody gets together on these days. However there are several other side trips that you can join which will greatly enhance your experience of Desert Place in Rajasthan, India.

Contact Us –For More Detail & Query for Program.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Question we receive about our volunteer placements.
Click to see our other Programs.