MandaLao began in 2014 and opened to the public in 2016. It is run by 3 American partners, Michael Vogler, Stephen (Roice) Davis and Kellen Johnson. MandaLao is a responsible tour and conservation company in Laos. They work with elephants, rescuing them from logging camps and poor conditions and aim to raise awareness and set an ethical example for interacting with elephants. They would like to increase the population of elephants in Laos which currently has only 1000 nationwide. They work with national parks stretching across Laos and Thailand and with the surrounding villages to reduce human-elephant conflicts that will enable them to reintroduce captive elephants back into the wild. They will buy or lease land from villagers to preserve and protect it for the elephants.

MandaLao currently has 9 elephants in their care. They have a private tour licence to generate funds and in keeping with the World Animal Protection Guidelines, they have a no riding programme. They offer walking tours where visitors can go on guided walks with and bathe the elephants. They also run a restaurant and organic farm. In addition to their private company they are currently creating a 5013c charity in USA under the name of Laos Elephant Initiative. This will enable them to work further on conservation efforts with the Laos government. They will also then be able to start collecting donations for their conservation work through this.

For more information, please visit their website.