Christy Williams, Country Director for Myanmar at the World Wildlife Fund, has said that the Chinese make up 90% of the market for these “blood beads”. In China, the beads are marketed as wenwan jewellery, a style of traditional Chinese collectible that also makes use of rhino horn and ivory. Death, it seems, is the latest fashion accessory here.
The sickening chain of events that ends on a discerning consumer’s wrist begins in the wilderness. Poison is the favoured murder method, which once consumed by the elephant will spread through its entire body over the course of two to three days, causing agonising pain to the animal before it meets the merciful embrace of death. It is in the poacher’s interests to stay close – the prized layers of skin are best harvested as quickly as possible after the elephant dies, lest the blood concentration reduce and the beads lose their lustre. It is thought that some elephants are skinned while they are still alive.
Although elephants can be found in a number of countries throughout Southeast Asia, the blood bead trade is unquestionably focused in Myanmar. Poaching incidents have increased dramatically here since 2010, with some elephant carcasses found completely stripped of their skin. As well as a wild population of around 2,000, there are around 6,000 captive elephants living in Myanmar, each one now a target for the blood bead trade following the logging moratorium that the government of Myanmar imposed in 2016. These elephants, raised in captivity to work in the logging industry and unsuited to a life in the wild, now live perilously close to the poacher’s knife.

For good reason there is less riding of elephants as part of tourist attractions in many parts of Asia. The impetus for this arose with reports of cruel and inhumane treatment of elephants in poorly run circus and ‘wildlife theme parks’ in Cambodia and Thailand; those situations. It was an abomination of a very ancient human elephant working relationship in SE Asia. We do not support or encourage the riding of elephants in any destination.
Many reading this may have had some experience with elephant tourism. We ask that you clear your mind of those experiences as this will be something entirely different. Elephant assisted journeys, carefully done, are a partial solution to the huge issue of unemployed elephants faced by Myanmar Timber Enterprise - the entity that controls all timber elephants in Myanmar. This kind of conscious tourism is a viable and critical source of income for the mahouts and elephants. With these elephants working with us, this is the only source of income they have. At all times vets are with us and as you will see, meticulous care is given to the elephants in our care.
Critically, this type of tourism also demonstrates to the government of Myanmar and local people, that tourism focused on wildlife and traditional culture can be both sustainable and lucrative source of income where it is needed most - at the village level.

We do not ride the elephants, but the mahouts do. Riding is not necessary and even though these timber elephants could easily handle a single person and a mahout, it is just not necessary and we are interested in maximizing the welfare of the elephant. Each participant gets ‘their’ elephant for the duration of the trip so that one actually gets to know the elephant in an intimate way. The idea is to journey slowly through the landscape with elephants experiencing farmland, villages, deep forest, wildlife and number of different ethnic communities - as well as the elephant itself. Pace is critical here-we move at the pace of our elephants - often just walking alongside them listening to the comforting sound of their massive foot- pads moving over forest floor. The idea is to take our time. Our journeys seek to authentically replicate an ancient mode of travel undertaken by local elephant caravans since early pre-modern times.
While walking one learns how teak is logged on hillsides, how the symbiotic relationship between elephant and mahout enables them to jointly deal with challenges such as facing tigers and other wildlife, how they ford rivers or negotiate a steep hillside. You learn what wild shrubs elephants eat, how they individually fit into group hierarchies. You learn the history of logging in Myanmar in the actual locations where it occurred and the current state of the forests. These walks in essence are active classrooms. Further details on such topics are covered in evening lectures. Mornings begin like every day in care of an elephant-with an elephant bath. You can opt to watch or partake in this much-loved morning ritual that creates a strong bond of trust between elephant and mahout. After breakfast commence walking alongside our elephant deep into old growth forest replete with hoolock gibbons, several species of hornbill and ungulates such as barking deer. Sleep in tented comfort next to an adjacent brook to the sounds of owls and other nocturnals.

His art includes a series of collages made from the coca leaf, and patchworks of Inca and Aymara blankets stitched together. But he may be best known for his installations in the Salar de Uyuni (the world’s largest salt flats), such as a stairway of salt blocks leading to nothing.
To showcase the region further, he has recently begun guiding visitors into Uyuni, exploring and explaining the landscape to them. "I really feel like [my guests] become part of the artwork, that they’re not just observers but performers," he says. "And if people are interested in my art, they are interested in my country."