Story by Irene Butler. Pictures by Rick Butler

Published in Magic Carpets and Travellady e-zines and Today’s Senior News Magazine

A monkey swung on a vine above our heads in metronome-fashion, as if counting the humans entering his domain with each side-to-side movement. I set off into the tangle of jungle with my husband Rick and our guide Yui (U-ey) checking periodically for unsolicited passengers clinging to my “leech socks” (cotton gaiters that are a must during the rainy season). The heady scent of damp foliage was intoxicating.

Towering rubber trees bore jagged claw marks from large cats that sleep in their branches. We came across elephant licks; patches of red soil sensed by pachyderms to be rich in minerals. Near a water hole, ginger plants ripped out by their roots and fresh dung were evidence of a recent visit by one or more of the 250 wild elephants that tramp the 2,168 sq km Khao Yai National Park.

Read the rest of our Adventure magiccarpet journals and our Thailand Photo Gallery.