Sapana village lodge partners with direct aid Nepal

To create Nepal's first elephant refuge

In 2015, Donna Marshal (Founder of Direct Aid Nepal) met Dhruba Giri (Founder of Sapana Village Lodge & Sapana Holiday Tours & Travel) & they begin a journey together to create better lives for elephants & their caretakers. We began by retiring one elephant ‘Samrat Gaj’ & now we have retired three. Now we have Samrat, his mother Srijana & her best friend Champa.

Their days are filled with grazing, swimming, & eating. They have been retired from their days of giving safari rides to visitors. Most days when you are sitting on the veranda of Sapana, you can see our gentle giants accompanied by their caretakers walking freely. Their nights are spent in their chain-free corals that have shelter, water & their favorite foods to eat. The chains are gone at Sapana.

Please call us to make arrangements to participate in our ethical elephant activities.

Samrat, our baby elephant 

Samrat Gaj turned 6 this year! He is a lively young bull who plays in his corral with his tires and swings and loves to roll in the mud. Daily he leads the herd out to graze and his mother still keeps a watchful eye on her son. You can find him often swimming in the river during the warmer months.

Srijana is now 44 years old. Before she arrived at Sapana Lodge, this young lady was living in a Hotel in the western part of Chitwan and was regularly going on Jungle Safari rides. Then, she became pregnant and her first owner wanted to sell her because she could not go on safaris during that time. We heard about that story and decided to buy her and her future baby. Now, she is enjoying her new retired life at the coral.

Lucky Kali new life retiring her from work

Elephants are not only used for friendly safari activities in Chitwan Park, but We offers beautiful natural environment to them for grazing, river bath and walking around the area. The stunning views of elephants enjoying their daily riverside activities are possible from the close distance sitting on the newly built bamboo bridge of the resort. Thanks to Lena, Donna and their organizations to give Lucky Kali the new life retiring her from work. We are proud to co-operate with them for this inspiring elephant welfare program. They need your love and care.

Champa Kali, “Grumpy girl”?

Champa Kali is 48 years old and she arrived at Sapana Village Lodge 13 years ago. She was born in India and used to carry wood. When Champa arrived in Nepal to work in a hotel she was doing jungle rides with minimum of 5 people on her back all day long. This year she was retired and no longer does any safaris. She enjoys the company of her best girl friend Srijana. She enjoys her walks with her mahout Saroj and frequently can be found bathing in the river.

Grumpy girl no more since retiring!

Recently, two non profit organizations Direct Aid Nepal and Association Moey developed a partnership to retire 65 year old elephant Lucky Kali who had worked her entire life in the logging industry & then giving rides to tourists in Chitwan.She is now the first private elephant to officially be retired in Nepal. Lucky Kali’s new home is at Sapana Village Lodge and instead of being used for rides, she is able to spend the day taking mud baths, grazing and playing in the river. She lives in a “chain free corral” so that she can enjoy the ability to choose where she wants to lay down at night. Guests at Sapana Village Lodge can enjoy watching Lucky from the restaurant and garden.

Thank you for your support!

Elephants are gracious, friendly and highly intelligent creatures. Normally they are exploited for commercial issues, which generally means a large number of people squeezed on their sensitive backs for Jungle Safari. But We offers other elephant friendly activities which are safe for elephants too. These beautiful and majestic animals deserve love and care. We hope many other lodges in Chitwan will follow our initiative of supporting them.