Hot Dung! Locals dig annual elephant poop collection in Northern Thailand

Photo: Soraya Montero Rodriguez/ Flickr
Photo: Soraya Montero Rodriguez/ Flickr

Thailand’s northern province of Tak is famous for mountain treks and tribal villages, but less well-known for weird activities like its annual elephant dung collection. The well-known-to-locals custom, however, ensures that farmers have natural fertilizer for the year, and lets locals ensure that elephants are properly being cared for through careful examination of their crap.

In provinces including Chiang Mai and Kanchanaburi, collecting the gentle giant’s poop is a lesser-known tourist attraction too.

This activity is being held now held in Tak’s Mae Sot. Tourists can visit Ban Pu Toe, a Mae Sot hill tribe village, to experience daily life, see how villagers care for their elephants, feed them grass and, of course, scoop up their poop, reported NNT.  

After the collection, tourists can see how the dung is used as an organic fertilizer that will feed the plants, which will become the food for the elephants, and learn how the cycle continues.



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