Step Into the World of Elephant Conservation with WildeTusk

Embark on an unforgettable Wilde Tracks Collaboration journey into the world of wildlife rescue, elephant care, and elephant rewilding in Laos. Work alongside dedicated conservation teams across a leading wildlife rescue centre, elephant hospital, and protected forest landscapes, gaining meaningful insight into the rescue, rehabilitation, and long-term welfare of elephants affected by human activity, as well as their ongoing journey back toward natural behaviours through structured rewilding programmes.

Choose from three immersive WildeTusk experiences, each designed to connect you directly with field conservation, veterinary care, and applied research.

WildeTusk | Trek (8 Days)

A remote, field-based elephant conservation expedition combining wildlife monitoring, cultural immersion, and wilderness exploration.

Begin at Laos’ only elephant hospital, gaining insight into elephant behaviour, welfare, veterinary care, and the rehabilitation process that supports rewilding. Continue into the 192,000-hectare Nam Pouy National Protected Area, home to one of the country’s most important wild elephant populations.

In the field, take part in conservation activities including forest trekking with monitoring teams, non-invasive surveys, and camera trap deployment. Experience remote forest camping and meaningful cultural exchange through time spent with local communities and mahouts.

WildeTusk | Vet (6 Days)

An intensive elephant conservation medicine programme based within a working wildlife rescue and veterinary hospital environment in Laos.

Train alongside an international team of elephant veterinarians, reproductive specialists, behaviour and welfare scientists, and conservation experts, supported by experienced regional veterinary staff. The programme combines lectures, workshops, laboratory sessions, and supervised clinical learning.

Gain hands-on exposure to elephant anatomy, diagnostics, disease management, welfare assessment, reproduction, endocrinology, and clinical techniques through real case-based learning within a functioning elephant hospital.

WildeTusk | Immersion (7 Days)

A hands-on field and research experience focused on elephant behaviour, welfare, and applied conservation science in forest environments.

Work alongside veterinarians, biologists, and research teams to study herd dynamics, social behaviour, and individual identification using morphological traits. Conduct behavioural data collection using ethograms and contribute directly to ongoing conservation monitoring.

Gain insight into veterinary and management practices including health checks, foot care, positive reinforcement training, and supervised clinical techniques such as target training and basic drug administration.

🐾 Open To

• WildeTusk - Trek: Anyone with a passion for conservation and relative fitness

• WildeTusk - Vet: Anyone studying or qualified in the veterinary & animal care industries

• WildeTusk - Immersion: Anyone with a passion for conservation and relative fitness. Available to 16 year old and above

🔍 Available Trips

• WildeTusk - Trek: Available the 1st week of each month from October to April

• WildeTusk - Vet: 7 - 12 December 2026

• WildeTusk - Immersion:

• Email info@wildetracks.com with your preferred programme and dates for availability.

📩 Booking Information

If “Book Now” is available:

• Click the Book Now button to secure your place on the mission

• A deposit is required to confirm your spot — spaces are limited and cannot be held without payment

• The remaining balance is split into three instalments, with final payment due 90 days prior to departure

• If booking within 90 days of departure, full payment is required at the time of booking

• Once your deposit (or full payment) is received, you’ll be sent a detailed information pack covering everything you need to know — including program details, travel guidance, what to expect, and a packing list

If “Join Waitlist” is available:

• Click Join Waitlist to register your interest

• A Wilde Tracks team member will contact you via email

• If you don’t hear from us within 3 business days, please email info@wildetracks.com

• No payment is required to join the waitlist

• Being on the waitlist may mean the program is currently full, has specific requirements,

• offers multiple departure dates, or has alternative mission lengths available

• Our team will help guide you through the best options available for you

Some of our trips require a minimum number of participants to run. In the unlikely event the minimum isn’t met, we’ll let you know no later than 60 days before departure. If you haven’t heard from us by then, your trip is good to go. To keep things flexible, we recommend booking your flight after this point or choosing a flexible ticket.

📧 Questions & Private Groups

• Email info@wildetracks.com with any questions

• Private group bookings available on request

We can’t wait for you to be part of this mission. If you have any questions at all, just reach out - we’re here to help every step of the way.

🔥 Real experiences. Real travellers. Read their reviews here!

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g186338-d32706729-Reviews-Wilde_Tracks-London_England.html

Journey from Luang Prabang by road and boat into the heart of elephant country at the Elephant Centre. As the landscape opens up, you step directly into a working conservation environment where rescued elephants are cared for and gradually prepared for life in more natural habitats.

Begin with a guided walk through forest enclosures before meeting the youngest elephants in the nursery, observing powerful early-life bonds between calves and mothers. Continue to the elephant hospital, where veterinary and conservation teams reveal the realities of rescue, rehabilitation, and long-term care.

As afternoon light falls, watch elephants enter the river - bathing, socialising, and interacting in ways that are essential to their recovery and wellbeing. The day closes with a conservation briefing and traditional Lao dinner overlooking the lake.

Wake to the sounds of the forest and join elephants as they move through natural habitat. Walk alongside the herd as they forage, bathe, and communicate-observing complex social behaviour up close.

Explore the socialisation area, a semi-wild landscape where herd structures are carefully formed and monitored. From elevated platforms and forest trails, witness how elephants build relationships, establish hierarchy, and develop natural behaviours.

In the afternoon, observe bathing rituals once more before joining a supervised positive reinforcement training session with mahouts and veterinary staff - seeing firsthand how trust and cooperation are built between elephants and caregivers.

Venture deeper into surrounding forest landscapes to track and observe free-roaming male elephants - an rare opportunity to understand their behaviour, movement, and ecological importance.

Return to the Elephant Centre for an immersive conservation session at the Information Centre, exploring elephant biology, intelligence, cultural history, and the threats they face in the wild.

After lunch, depart with a deeper understanding of elephants not just as animals in care, but as a species intricately tied to landscapes, people, and survival.

Leave the Elephant Centre and travel deep into Sayaboury Province, where the landscape begins to shift into rugged forest corridors and remote elephant territory.

Step into the field with a trek through Ban Phonesavath protected forest - your first real experience of moving through elephant habitat on foot.

Continue toward known elephant routes near Paklay, before arriving in Thongmixay for a shared dinner with mahouts. Stories, knowledge, and lived experience from local elephant handlers bring the landscape to life in a powerful way.

Cross into Nam Pouy National Protected Area, a vast, wild landscape of forested ridges, river valleys, and hidden elephant corridors.

Work alongside veterinary and monitoring teams on non-invasive elephant health checks—learning how data is collected without disturbing wild populations.

After a riverside lunch, deploy camera traps across key wildlife pathways, setting up the tools that will reveal hidden movement patterns of elephants and other species.

By late afternoon, establish a remote forest camp - fully off-grid, surrounded by the sounds of the jungle.

Wake at first light and follow active elephant signs through the forest - tracks, feeding marks, and movement routes that tell the story of the herd.

Move between observation points and monitoring stations, retrieving camera trap data and analysing early wildlife activity patterns with the field team.

Break for lunch in a forest clearing before continuing to elevated viewpoints used for elephant monitoring and landscape tracking.

End the day back in Thongmixay with a traditional mahout family dinner, sharing stories and gaining rare insight into generations of elephant knowledge.

Visit a local school with conservation staff, supporting environmental education initiatives that connect communities to the forests and wildlife around them.

Travel back through Sayaboury Province, stopping along the way at cultural and ecological landmarks that deepen your understanding of the landscape.

Return to the Elephant Centre for a final evening together - reflecting on the journey from captive care environments to wild elephant landscapes.

Ease into the final morning with time by the lake, final conversations with staff, and a last look at the conservation centre.

Return to Luang Prabang carrying a rare experience - having followed the full arc of elephant conservation from rescue and rehabilitation through to wild monitoring and rewilding landscapes.

Step straight into the living landscape of elephant behaviour as you join biologists in the socialisation area, tracking and recording real-time interactions of female elephants as they move through complex social groups. Every observation reveals something new - hierarchies forming, relationships shifting, and natural behaviours unfolding in a semi-wild setting designed to mirror life in the forest.

From there, transition into the heart of clinical care at the elephant hospital, where you witness and support a real veterinary health check-up, seeing how welfare decisions are made in practice. The afternoon brings you back into the field at the bathing area, where elephants gather in water to cool, play, and communicate—offering a rare, close-up opportunity to document behaviour at its most expressive and dynamic.

Shift your focus to the powerful and complex world of male elephants, joining field biologists to collect behavioural data in real time. This is where observation becomes investigation—tracking movement patterns, social behaviour, and individual differences that reveal how males interact within the wider elephant population.

Later, step into the hospital workspace and take on one of the most important conservation skills: identifying individual elephants. Learn how to build accurate elephant profiles, distinguish subtle physical markers, and create identification records that directly support long-term monitoring, research, and protection efforts.

Immerse yourself fully in the veterinary world as theory turns into hands-on experience. Begin with target training and foot care demonstrations, then step in under supervision to practise techniques that form the foundation of elephant medical care. Explore how treatments are delivered safely through guided drug administration sessions, gaining rare insight into the precision and trust required in elephant medicine.

Move into the workshop environment to support the practical side of conservation operations before entering the endocrine lab, where science meets conservation in powerful ways. Here, you see how hormonal and biological data is used to understand behaviour, welfare, and reproduction—transforming research into real-world impact.

Head into the forest for an optional morning trek, following elephants through their natural habitat as they forage, move, and interact in a fully wild environment. This is conservation in its most raw and authentic form - tracking signs, reading landscapes, and observing elephants on their own terms.

Later, return to the centre and contribute to the storytelling side of conservation by sharing field footage, images, and experiences with the team, helping bring the work to life beyond the forest. The experience concludes with departure, carrying with you a deeper understanding of elephants not just as animals in care, but as wild, intelligent beings shaping - and shaped by - the landscapes around them.

Arrive at the Elephant Centre and step straight into a working world of elephant conservation medicine. From the moment you enter, you are surrounded by rescued elephants, veterinary infrastructure, and active rehabilitation work.

Begin with an immersive introduction to the hospital, protected-contact systems, and field facilities before meeting the veterinary and conservation teams. Gain your first insight into elephant biology, welfare challenges, and the realities of managing one of the world’s most complex and intelligent land animals in a conservation setting.

The day sets the tone for an intensive, hands-on journey where science, care, and field conservation are tightly connected.

Dive into the foundations of elephant science and conservation medicine. Explore elephant biology, captive management, and welfare principles while unpacking the real-world pressures facing wild and rescued populations.

Move quickly from theory into action with field safety training around elephants, learning how to read behaviour, anticipate movement, and work confidently in close proximity to large animals. Watch positive reinforcement training in practice and understand how trust and communication are built between elephants and caregivers.

This is where knowledge becomes experience—and where you begin to see elephants through the lens of conservation science.

Step into the clinical core of elephant medicine. Learn how veterinarians assess health through anatomy, physiology, and behavioural indicators, then translate that knowledge into real diagnostics.

Work through body condition scoring, physical examination techniques, and disease recognition while exploring how elephants are trained for cooperative medical care. Gain exposure to medication administration methods and diagnostic decision-making used in real cases.

This day brings you into the rhythm of a working elephant hospital - where every observation can influence treatment and welfare outcomes.

Take your learning into the field as you observe elephants in natural forest environments, using behaviour as a key indicator of health and welfare.

Explore major disease systems affecting elephants, including TB, EEHV, gastrointestinal illness, parasites, wounds, and foot disorders. Then shift into hands-on application with foot care techniques, diagnostic analysis, and laboratory work using microscopes and blood testing tools.

This is a high-intensity, field-meets-lab experience where every skill connects directly to real conservation outcomes.

Uncover the most complex and fascinating aspects of elephant biology. Study female reproduction, breeding systems, neonatal care, and the behavioural intensity of musth in male elephants.

Engage in advanced discussions and case-based learning that connect reproduction, behaviour, and long-term population management. Work through real-world conservation scenarios where veterinary science directly shapes elephant welfare and future generations.

This is where everything comes together - biology, behaviour, medicine, and conservation strategy.

Conclude your journey with reflection and integration of everything you’ve experienced inside the elephant hospital, laboratory, and field environments.

Review key clinical and conservation insights with the veterinary team before departing the Elephant Centre.

Leave with a rare, hands-on understanding of elephant medicine and conservation practice - gained not from observation alone, but from full immersion in a working wildlife rescue and veterinary system.