Elephant, Inthanon area, Northern Thailand

Elephant, Doi Inthanon National Park, Thailand
Originally uploaded by JonathanTheMan.

Each of the villages in the area we were trekking in own at least one elephant each - as well as performing heavy lifting work for rice paddy construction etc, they provide significant tourist income. I can see why - riding an elephant is an experience of a lifetime. The village elephant handlers use voice commands to direct them (sometimes with limited effect - the baby elephant in our group was very curious and took many wrong turns, eventually falling over and dumping poor Susie into the bushes).