WILD FACTOR
Chiang Mai is home to Doi Inthanon (2,585 metres), Thailand’s highest peak and part of the Himalayan range.
AT THE AONANG SANCTUARY IN Krabi, four elephants are booked into the spa for a skin conditioning mud scrub.
Under the watchful eye of the pachyderms’ mahouts, several guests from the nearby Banyan Tree resort are assisting. They are knee-deep in an opaque lake, heaping handfuls of mud over the cracked, hairy hides of Somsri, Buatong, Kamsan and Poon Ngern. Exfoliation with a stiff brush is next.
Rescued Somsri, 54, is so blissed out she appears to have drifted off into a nana nap, lying full length in the mud.
The sanctuary aims to give elephants a more rewarding life; some have been bought outright, others have owners who have been persuaded to let the elephants live in leisure rather than earn their
