25,000th tree planted at Khao Yai
With a new group of volunteers - ten students from Canada, the United States and England - I travel to Khao Yai to coordinate the third tree planting camp. The volunteers take care of the preparations for the camp: bring saplings to the location, prepare parts of the education programme, practise the tree planting song in Thai and English for the DVD and in the meantime learn as much as possible about elephants. The camp – and especially the tree planting sessions – is well prepared and organised this time. During the first tree planting session we plant over 5,000 trees. We’ll make our goal for Khao Yai with ease.
After two days, the international volunteers have become good friends with the children and the Thai volunteers. On Wednesday morning, we have the final tree planting session. The elephant Thong Deng leads the procession of tree planters. The kids storm the field. The volunteers check all the planted little trees and try to plant as many as possible themselves. I pick up a small tree and it appears to be the last one. All 130 volunteers and Thong Deng gather around. The 25,000th tree is planted in Khao Yai!
The rest of the volunteering period is very relaxed: fertilizing, do some weeding, collecting seeds and filling the nursery again. We also place camera traps around the planted area to observe what kind of wild animals now appear in the area. And then next year again. And in the years coming there will no doubt be a photo of a wild elephant eating from these new trees.
More information about where trees are planted? Click here…
