Ethical experiences: How the tide is turning for Thailand's long-exploited elephants

I follow my guide, Choo, through the dense cloud forest of northern Thailand, which hums with insects, drips with bromeliads and is roamed by wild monkeys and deer, while cobalt-blue butterflies dance through the canopy and a golden temple glistens from a distant peak above. Pausing on a steep mountain slope, Choo puts a silencing finger to her lips, indicating we’re close to the animals we’ve come to see: Asian elephants. Ahead of us, local mahouts from the non-profit Mahouts Elephant Foundation crouch on the trail, as a large mother and baby approach, their probing trunks investigating the mahouts’ boots, caps and bags. Rescued from the tourism industry, seeking food from humans is an unnatural learnt behaviour and one that is now being discouraged – with love – by the foundation, which is on a mission to see Thailand’s elephants living wild and free. The cause works in partnership with the country’s Indigenous Karen hill tribes to develop community‑based tourism models for observation‑only elephant encounters. The projects are in vast areas of forest, enabling the animals to live naturally, while tourists watch from a safe and respectful distance with local mahout guides (traditionally, a mahout is an elephant’s carer, responsible for tending to the needs of domesticated elephants).