Thailand’s Captive Elephants and Their People

The experience of being charged at by a bull elephant is one of both abject fear and sublime wonder: fear at the sight of tusks and hulking body powering towards you matched with wonder in the presence of such strength, beauty and intelligence. But not all of Dr. Nikki Savvides’ experiences working with captive elephants were frightening. Most were exciting and thought-provoking, all part of her decade-long quest to unravel the complex history of human-elephant relationships in Thailand.

After The Forests: Thailand’s Captive Elephants and Their People explores the difficult matter of elephant welfare in tourism through the author’s experiences as a passionate animal lover, volunteer tourist and academic. Nikki tells captivating stories about the awe-inspiring elephants she met on her journey and the dedicated people who are fighting to create a better future for them through ethical tourism ventures. This includes Indigenous mahouts, who - like their elephants - have suffered greatly as a result of deforestation, and whose unique life stories teach us much about what life was like before and after Thailand’s forests were destroyed, for both elephants and their people.

“Dr. Nikki Savvides is doing work at the cutting edge of multispecies research, exposing worlds where humans, animals and natures exist in complex and entangled relations. She makes use of contemporary ethnographic methods to unpack the interconnections between human labor, community and disadvantage, and non-human landscapes featuring both troubling tales of animal suffering and simultaneously, untold stories of flourishing and joy.”
– Dr Dinesh Wadiwel, author of The War Against Animals

About the Author

Nikki is an environmental ethnographer who studies the impact of tourism on animals. Her area of specialisation for the past decade has been the welfare of captive elephants used for tourism in Thailand. She holds a Masters and PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Sydney, Australia,