How it all began

Elephant Parade was created by father and son Marc and Mike Spits in 2006. A year later, the first exhibition was held in Rotterdam. Marc was inspired to create the Elephant Parade after meeting Soraida Salwala whilst on holiday in Thailand. Soraida is the founder and Secretary General of Friends of the Asian Elephant and founder of the FAE Elephant Hospital, the first elephant hospital in the world in Lampang, near Chiang Mai. Here, Marc met a baby elephant named Mosha, who had lost her leg after stepping on a landmine. Mosha inspired Marc to create Elephant Parade.

“I wanted to do something structural, something that would be profitable in the long run. Only in that way we can provide the Asian elephant a future.”

Soon after, Marc engaged his son Mike to help bring his idea of the Elephant Parade to fruition. The elephant hospital in Lampang was among the first organizations to receive contributions generated with an Elephant Parade exhibition and auction.