Huay Pakoot Elephant, Gibbon & Forest Conservation Project

Most weeks combine time in the forest observing and monitoring elephants with biodiversity and endangered species surveys, and involvement in environmental or sustainability workshops, clean-ups and ecobrick building. Depending on the role you may also help deliver English learning sessions for local children or adults. Days are structured around planned fieldwork and community sessions, with time built in for rest and for life in the village.

Each day has a theme, and every day follows the same rhythm: fieldwork in the morning, data and workshops in the afternoon, and time with the Karen community in the evening. A five-day group visit runs through the themes once; longer placements repeat and deepen the same pattern.

• Elephant conservation — a guided forest trek alongside the community’s elephants, learning about their behaviour, welfare and reintegration; then a Karen lunch, a language lesson, a village orientation and an introduction to data collection; a homestay dinner and a mahout craft workshop in the evening.
• Gibbon conservation — a dawn gibbon survey with behaviour monitoring and rainforest ecology; data entry, an agroforestry workshop and conservation discussions; a wildlife documentary and conservation presentation in the evening.
• Community development — English teaching or a community development project; visits to local enterprises and village development initiatives; a Karen cultural evening.
• Biodiversity conservation — bird surveys, camera trapping and elephant monitoring; species identification and biodiversity monitoring; a biodiversity workshop in the evening.
• Forest restoration — tree planting and forest restoration, then programme reflection, certificate presentation and departures.

Fitness: moderate — comfortable walking 5–10 km through tropical forest in warm, humid conditions.

Volunteers stay in the village where the project is based, in a private room in a local Karen family homestay. Conditions are basic, with cold running water and mosquito nets. Meals are provided, with vegetarian, vegan and non-vegetarian options available. Living within the community is part of the experience and supports the project’s close working relationship with local residents.

The project combines wildlife conservation with community support in the Chiang Mai region of northern Thailand. Conservation work centres on observing and monitoring Asian elephants living in their natural forest habitat, surveying biodiversity and endangered species, running environmental and sustainability workshops, and taking part in clean-ups, ecobrick building and reforestation. Community work focuses on English learning sessions for local children and adults.

No. This is a strictly observation-only project. The elephants live semi-wild in their natural forest habitat, and volunteers watch and record their behaviour from a respectful distance. There is no touching, riding, bathing or hands-on contact of any kind. This approach protects the elephants' welfare and their natural behaviour, and it is central to how the project works.

Accommodation, meals and in-country support and training for the work are provided. You will be shown how to carry out surveys, record observations and take part in workshops and clean-ups safely. You should budget for your own travel to the meeting point, insurance, visa and personal spending money.

The project welcomes volunteers from a range of backgrounds. Most placements are open to adults, and you should have a reasonable level of fitness for walking in forested, hilly terrain. No specific qualifications are needed for general conservation and community work. A willingness to learn, follow guidance and work respectfully alongside local people is the main requirement.

No previous experience is required for general volunteering. You will be trained in the survey methods, observation techniques and other tasks once you arrive. If you are joining a role focused on teaching English, an interest in working with learners is valuable, and any relevant experience or training is a bonus rather than a requirement.

Placements are available over a range of durations, from shorter stays of a few weeks to longer commitments for those who want more time in the field. Longer stays allow you to build familiarity with the elephants, the survey work and the community, and to contribute to the project's longer-term records.

You can register your interest and then arrange the details of your placement, including dates and the type of role. Once confirmed, you will receive practical information ahead of your arrival, and you make your own way to the agreed meeting point in Thailand, from where you travel to the project together.

Conservation activities include observing and monitoring semi-wild Asian elephants in the forest, carrying out biodiversity and endangered species surveys, recording the species seen, and taking part in environmental and sustainability workshops. Volunteers also help with litter clean-ups, ecobrick building from collected plastic waste, and reforestation.

The community programme centres on English learning. Volunteers help deliver English sessions for local children and, at times, for adults, supporting confidence and everyday language skills. In 2025 the project ran 439 children's English sessions reaching 94 children, alongside 92 adult English sessions, giving a sense of the scale of this work.

Observing elephants in their natural forest habitat allows them to behave naturally as part of the local ecosystem, without being handled or performing for visitors. The records volunteers help gather build a picture of the elephants' behaviour, movement and wellbeing over time, which supports their long-term protection and the wider case for keeping elephants in the wild.

The project tracks its own footprint each year, recording waste, energy and fuel use and estimating the carbon associated with base activities. Practical measures include collecting and reusing plastic waste as ecobricks, running clean-ups, offering vegetarian and vegan meals, and introducing solar energy on base. These figures are reviewed annually as part of the project's records.

Yes. The project keeps detailed annual records of its conservation and community work, including the number of surveys carried out, species recorded, workshops delivered, clean-ups completed and learning sessions run. The impact figures on this page are drawn directly from those records for 2023 to 2026, so you can see what has been achieved year on year.

No. This is a strictly observation-only project: participants watch the semi-wild elephants from a distance while mahouts guide them through the forest, recording behavioural and welfare data with no riding, bathing, feeding or direct contact. Wider wildlife monitoring is similarly non-invasive, relying on sight and sound. You are also expected to respect Karen culture and local knowledge, and to channel any donations through official channels rather than to individuals.

Yes. The Impact Network Foundation works with one partner organisation in Thailand: Huay Pakoot Elephant, Gibbon & Forest Conservation Project, based in Huay Pakoot, in the mountain forests of the north. You apply to it directly through this site.

The NGO in the Impact Network in Thailand is Canopy Conservation, an independent conservation organisation working in Huay Pakoot, in the mountain forests of Chiang Mai Province. It is one of eight NGOs in the network, and the network is deliberately small — every organisation in it is locally run rather than a field office of an international charity.

Yes — Canopy Conservation works in Huay Pakoot, in the mountain forests of Chiang Mai Province. Its work is elephant, gibbon and forest conservation.

Elephant, gibbon and forest conservation. Elephant and gibbon conservation run with the Karen community of Huay Pakoot. The elephants belong to families in the village, and the work is about supporting them being in forest rather than in tourism.

Placements run to fixed start dates set by the project, so the dates are published in advance rather than chosen by you.

Canopy Conservation is an independent, locally run organisation. The Impact Network Foundation does not operate it, staff it or direct its work — the Foundation exists to connect volunteers to organisations like it and to publish what they achieve.

Apply on the Huay Pakoot Elephant, Gibbon & Forest Conservation Project page on this site. Every applicant then has a short one-to-one call before a place is confirmed, so you can ask anything and the organisation can check the placement is a good fit.