Camp Jabulani, a luxury lodge situated on the Big Five Kapama Private Game Reserve near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, will stop offering elephant rides as part of its Elephant Experience beginning on April 1.
The company said in a statement that the increasing international pressure against elephant-back safaris, because of the abusive way in which a proportion of the animals are trained, prompted the decision to halt the activity.
In 2002, Camp Jabulani rescued 12 elephants, all of which had been left orphaned after culling operations in Zimbabwe. The elephant-back safaris were put in place as a continuation of what the elephants had been trained to do in Zimbabwe.
The company said in a statement: "From the beginning we worked closely with an advisory committee of veterinary specialists who guided us in respect of training the elephants, sustaining their emotional and physical well-being. Our model of training has always been based on positive re-enforcement, and no animal in our care has ever been physically or spiritually abused in any way."
Camp Jabulani has said it will adapt its management plan to phase out elephant-back rides during the course of the next year but will retain other forms of interaction with the elephants to create public awareness of the plight of these animals, particularly where and when they have to be sustained in captivity.
The Elephant Experience will evolve into an interactive and observational one, where visitors will have the opportunity to meet the elephants as well as view them in close proximity, learning more about their behavior, their unique character traits and what is takes to take care of a herd of this size. Much of this will take place while the elephants are in their natural environment, foraging in the bush, walking through the reserve or swimming in the waterhole. Photographic opportunities in close proximity of the elephants will also be afforded.
Existing reservations through March 31 will be honored, as will bookings that were confirmed as a result of current brochure inclusions. However, from April 1 no elephant-back safaris will be offered at all, so agents will need to inform their clients of what the Elephant Experience will entail from that point on.