Meet our Herd!
Our elephants enjoy a retired life from working as safari elephants. The elephants have freedom to move around the beautiful Sapana grounds by day and by night enjoy chain free corrals. If You’re in Nepal we offer a variety of programs where you will experience the joy of elephants without riding them. ALL proceeds from the activities and ALL your donations directly support our foundation allowing our elephants to enjoy their retired life and help other elephants experience that same joy.
We have currently have 6 elephants in our herd, each with a different story!
Meet Samrat Gaj
Samrat is our youngest elephant in the herd and also the only boy. Samrat was born in Nepal in 2013 and he has been with us since he was 2 years old. Like most young boys, his favorite thing to do is play! He spends his days grazing the grounds of Sapana and playing in the river. By night he enjoys his special tire toy we constructed in the chain free corrals. He is a very strong boy so we have to replace the ropes and tires often!
Donate to help maintain Samrat’s tire toy
Meet Sirjana Kali
Sirjana is our largest elephant weighing in at over 3.5 tons, which is approximately the weight of 2 cars! She is also Samrat’s mom! Sirjana was born in India and sent to Nepal as a working elephant giving rides to tourists on jungle safari. She worked over 40 years in the tourism industry before joining us in 2019. She is enjoying her retired life alongside her son, her favorite things to do are to swim freely in the river, dust and scratch. She shows us her joy by trumpeting loudly and often!
Donate to feed our Giant Girl!
Meet Champa Kali
Champa is our strong, quiet girl, often spending time alone while she adjusts to her retired life. She is not participating in our activities as she shows signs of PTSD from her many years of work and the extreme training she endured to become a tourism elephant. She is showing signs of improvement and has become quite close with her corral neighbor Sirjana. We hope that she will become more social with the herd and be able to join our activities but she will tell us when she is ready in her own time.
Donate to Heal Champa in her Own Time
Meet Lucky Kali
Lucky was the second elephant to join our herd and she is also the oldest. Lucky was retired in a joint effort by Direct Aid Nepal and Association Moey. After careful consideration Association Moey decided that Lucky should spend the rest of her life with us at Direct Aid Nepal because she was home! She loves where she lives and loves her herd. She is a slow old girl and this shows in her pink face. As elephants age they begin to lose the pigment in their face and trunk area. Due to her old age we don’t know exactly when she was born but we believe it to be in the late 1940’s. Lucky worked all of her life in the logging industry in India and then the tourism industry in Nepal until she could no longer support the weight of the box used to carry people on her back. Lucky is dear friends with two new elephants!
We hope to be writing many more stories but we need your help!
Meet Chanchal Kali!
The kindest girl we know. She is sweet; generous in spirit and has won not only our hearts but everyone she meets. She is a gifted elephant and because this it is essential that we take extraordinary care of her sweet nature as she does not know how to say no. So we must say it for her.
Chanchal's owner did not feel it was appropriate for her to be a working elephant any longer. After a long negotiation she was transferred to our stewardship for the remainder of her life. Sweet Chanchal is a middle aged elephant who just loves life and lives in the moment. She loves vegetables, swimming, grazing and being with her best girl friends.
Maya Kali!
Perhaps our most heartwarming story. Maya is only 25years old. She has been in Nepal for over 12 years and her story is not kind. She was taken from her family and brought to Nepal at such a young age and because of her size it was assumed she could carry many tourists easily. She also contracted Tuberculosis. The combination was lethal. Her former owners are grateful they have ended this life for her and love where she lives now.
Our beautiful Maya came to our attention by a few different sources and we decided quickly she needed to come home with us. She settled in so easily; she is tall; large and very kind to other elephants. She loves not having chains on her as her knees are quite disabled. She behaves very much like a young elephant until it is bed time. She goes off by herself and hunkers down she requires much rest as her body is disabled. We will keep this lovely girl safe and hopefully we can try to rehabilitate some of the damage down to her.