King’s Cup Elephant Polo

Elephants, renowned for a rather slow paste and associated with forestry work and wild animal programs in Discovery. Polo, a gentleman sport to be played from the top of a well trained stallion. The two words just don’t mix, do they?

Well, the organiser of the tournament, Anantara Resort and Spa Hua Hin, seems to think so. Once a year, Hua Hin, normally host this event where international recognised polo players get the chance to practise their skills from the back of an elephant. Both players and the elephant mammoths are from all over the world, but the elephants themselves are locally bred.

The King’s Cup Elephant Polo is situated in one of the local military bases outside of Hua Hin and the layout of the tournament has an old colonial feel and appearance but the rules of the game as well as the equipment resembles ‘normal’ polo. The tournament is heavily sponsored by international companies and you will see polo teams with names such as the ‘Chivas Regal Scotland team’.

The aim of the tournament is to create awareness about the threat facing elephants in Thailand and abroad and in 2005 it raised more than 2 million THB which was donated to the National Elephant Institute. The tournament was held in Chiang Mai in 2006 but we hope to see it back to Hua Hin this September.