Visitors to elephant camps can watch how mahout wash their animals.

TRIPS to elephant camps have long been popular among travellers to Thailand. With its own population of pachyderms, Myanmar has also started developing elephant tourism, but in a manner that differs from its neighbour to the east.

U Kyaw Moe Tun, the general manager of Asia Green Travels and Tours, which organises trips to the Pho Kyar and Myaing Hay Wun elephant camps in Bago Division, said they preferred attracting guests by showcasing tradition.

“In Thailand they teach the elephants to perform tricks for the visitors like they’re in a circus, by putting on battle demonstrations, playing football and drawing pictures,” he said. “But we show a more natural interaction between elephants and humans. Most tourists are getting sick of seeing animals in artificial settings. They want to see everything as it is.”

He said one of the main attractions of Pho Kyar and Myaing Hay Wun is being able to accompany a mahout (elephant handler) through his daily routine of bathing and feeding the elephants.

Plans are now underway to build traditional mahout houses at the elephant camps for next tourist season that will allow visitors to observe the real life of the elephant trainers.

“I think there is great potential to double the number of visitors to the elephant camps in coming season,” U Kyaw Moe Tun said.

He said his company began leasing the camps from the Myanma Timber Enterprise under the Ministry of Forestry in April 2005.

Between then and March 2006, 65 foreigners and 100 locals visited Myaing Hay Wun while 113 foreigners and 168 locals visited Poe Kyar, with peak visitation occurring in January and February.

He added that with the increasing numbers of visitors will come growing concerns about protecting the environment at the camps.

“For example, at Pho Kyar, we’ve replanted teak trees on about 300 acres of land,” he said.

Asia Green Travels and Tours has also built an elephant museum where logging equipment is displayed and the native birds of the Bago Yoma mountain range are showcased.

U Kyaw Moe Tun said visitors also enjoyed seeing animals being treated at the nearby elephant hospital.

Another company, Treasure Travels and Tours, conducts short trips from Ngwe Saung beach to an elephant camp at a former timber extraction site about 25 minutes away from the coast.

Ma Aye Thandar, manager of the company, said trips to the camp are equally popular among local and foreign visitors, who especially enjoy the chance to ride on the back of the elephants.

“All of our customers have told us they were satisfied with the 45-minute elephant ride,” she said. “We don’t provide elephant shows at the moment, but most guests are happy with the chance to ride elephants, which is something they can’t experience in other countries.”

She said that each year about 200 people visit the camp, which is owned by the Myanma Timber Enterprise.