Anantara has announced that the annual King’s Cup elephant polo tournament will be staged on the banks of Bangkok’s Chao Praya River this year.
The annual event will return to the Thai capital from 10-13 March 2016, but in a new location close to the Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort. This will mark the 14th edition of the charitable event, which has also been held in Hua Hin and Chiang Rai.
To-date, the King’s Cup has raised almost US$1 million for Thai and international elephant charities. This year’s four-day event will feature 10 teams, including Thai celebrities, professional polo players, New Zealand rugby players and Thailand’s famous transgender cabaret team, Miss Tiffany.
A total of 18 elephants will be given a break from their usual work in tourist trekking camps to take part in the festival, during which they are given full veterinary checks. A micro-chipping programme ensures the elephants have not been caught from the wild.
Organisers say that the event is “designed to give these trekking elephants rest and relaxation on a scale they are never afforded in their normal lives”.
Anantara has a long association with elephant conservation in Thailand, and has been involved in efforts to rescue more than 40 elephants from the streets. Once a common sight in Bangkok, these “begging” elephants are now rarely, if ever, seen on the streets of the Thai capital.
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