The Anantara Golden Triangle Resort and Spa, in partnership with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation and the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, provides a haven for overworked, abused elephants and the mahouts who rely on these animals for their livelihood. Twenty mahout families now live in the Anantara Elephant Camp (a dusty strip of bamboo thatch huts and fields where tourists can learn to drive and bathe the gentle beasts) in exchange for a small stipend and housing. To earn a little extra income, a handful of the mahouts’ wives weave silk scarves.

Although the money the mahouts receive in exchange for the use of their elephants is less than what they were earning on the streets of Bangkok, it’s far more comfortable at the camp, the wives say.

They hope that the few thousand baht a month they earn through silk sales will help to further their own and their children’s education - three out of the four women who currently weave for Izara Arts never completed primary school. (To learn more about the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, visit www.helpingelephants.org/home.html)