It's not an easy life for an elephant on Bangkok's busy streets. According to the Associated Press, an elephant in the city must earn about 1,000 US dollars a month to feed itself and make a living for its handler. Using an elephant on the streets to earn money by begging or entertaining tourists is illegal in Thailand. So mahouts or elephant keepers and their elephants are often chased away by police.

So Anantara Golden Triangle Resort in northern Thailand has created an elephant camp where a number of elephants and their mahouts and their families live. The camp is modelled after traditional mahout’s villages, commonly found in the hills of northern Thailand in the days when the majority of Thailand's elephants. And mahouts were employed in the logging industry. The goal is to let the animals be closer to nature and preserve the traditional mahout lifestyle.

Officials at the resort say this baby was born just a month ago. Her mother has a slight infection, so the resort is making sure she has the care she needs.

And we're trying to place intravenous drip for the antibiotics into the back of the Bua Tong’s ear. But today, the tape is not sticking. That's the way to get the antibiotics into her without a big injection, which, the big injection really causes her lots of pain.

Every morning at the resort, mahouts give guests a crash course in guiding an elephant. A skilled mahout communicates with the elephant using around 70 soft commands, voice calls and touches. For most visitors, being so close to an elephant is exhilarating.

You feel very high and then it's just like, like this when they stomp. And when they are trying to walk fast, it's very scary. But it was good, it was fun. Elephant eye view.

Karen Kelly from Gibraltar, Spain says she came to Thailand to work with the elephants.

It's a great way to interact with the elephant. The guests on them… We all join together and for this evening walk where you get to mess around, go in the river, play with the elephants, and then bring them up the mountain and put them to bed before we head back to the camp.

One of the most memorable parts of her day is taking the elephants to bathe in the river. The elephants dry off and head for a lengthy amble through the forest before the guests end their elephant experience for the day.