Siam Safari's Trash Day

The high season here in Southern Thailand is just around the corner, therefore it is time for Siam Safari's "Trash Day"! Again this October eleven volunteers and staff members spent an afternoon canoeing down the Sok River in the heart of Khao Sok colleting the trash that monsoon floods have brought to the river banks.

Water levels in the river between the dry and monsoon seasons can change as much as 4 meters! These floods bring random trash from local villages and again this year Siam Safari sent their volunteer trash patrol to canoe down the beautiful Sok river. Most of the trash found from the river consisted mainly of plastic water bottles and plastic bags, but our patrols found quite a few shoes as well!

The Sok River flows from the Khao Sok area all the way to the gulf of Thailand at Krabi Province. Many years ago the Sok River was an important trading route between the ancient cultures of east and west, but today it provides water for villagers to water their plantations, wash laundry and shower after a hard day at the  rubber tree plantation. The Sok river is also an important habitat for numerous species of wildlife.

While collecting trash some of our volunteers, those with the sharpest eyes, managed to see some wildlife, such as reptiles and birds along the river. Kingfishers and egrets that are quite common in the area were seen flying in front of their canoes too. The luckiest paddlers even saw some macaque monkeys looking curiously at us from a safe distance.

After paddling more than 10 kilometers and collecting trash from the river banks our volunteers were tired but happy having been able to help clean part of this beautiful river.

After a fun and very environmental day our volunteers enjoyed a dinner buffet at our camp and spent rest of the evening swopping stories of their new experiences in Khao Sok over the camp fire.

Khun Wan, Siam Safari's manager at Khao Sok was happy with the results. "Again our trash day was a success. We will do this again soon, since more rains will most likely bring more water into the river and more trash later this year. We would like to thank all our volunteers and staff who participated and hope that future rains will bring less and less trash in to the river."

Siam Safari is also encouraging local school children to pay more attention to their environment through “children’s days” and events sponsored by the company.

Please see pictures of Siam Safari's Trash Day below.

Firs Aid Training from the Thai Red Cross 22nd – 23rd May 2010

Every year Siam Safari invites the Red Cross for 2 days to give practical lifesaving training to our staff. Everyone from across the breadth of the company from Guides, Drives, Office Staff and of course our Mahouts participate in a day filled with education and fun. “It’s very important for us that our staff has the knowledge of what to do when something happens; it’s safety for the staff but mostly for all our guests. We learn a lot during these days but we also have a lot of fun. We are looking forward to next year’s update”  says Siam Safari’s Service Manager. Each and every one of the staff that participate receive a certificate from the Red Cross foundation and also free personal first aid kit to take with them on their tours.