Koh Chang, in Thai, means Elephant Island. After a ride along the recently paved, round-the-island thoroughfare, the name makes perfect sense: elephant trekking is a much-advertised diversion, with several of the enormous mammals on parade at two base camps within spitting distance of the traffic. More signs point to a third deep in the tropical jungle that covers the bulk of the island, which lies southeast of Bangkok.
The animals have become as famous an attraction as the long, quiet stretches of sand that line the island's western shore. With Thailand's authorities desperate to market the island as an eco-tourist haven, what better than to have images of affable pachyderms at the forefront of Koh Chang's push for fame?
There's just one catch: despite its name, Koh Chang did not have an indigenous elephant population. The elephants on the island are all migrants ferried over in the past few years at the behest of politicians in Bangkok who are calling for Koh Chang, the largest in a 52-island archipelago that makes up the Koh Chang Marine National Park, to become the country's next tourist magnet; a 'second Phuket'. Belatedly, Koh Chang is living up to its name.
All the elephants living in trekking centres are starting anew after serving for years as transport for lumberjacks, says Pittaya Homkrailas, who runs Ban Kwan Chang, a camp deep in Koh Chang's jungle. 'We are helping jobless elephants to get a job,' he says, describing how some of the animals - which were 'laid off' after the government outlawed logging in 1989 - were seen wandering listlessly around towns. 'We don't want to see our national symbols like that.'
Six elephants from two families reside at Ban Kwan Chang, which means House of the Elephant Carers. The centre is run by the Bangkok-based Asian Elephant Foundation of Thailand, which provides funding and support, such as veterinary visits every six months.
In return, elephants trawl through the jungle with tourists rather than tree trunks on their backs - an activity that allows camera-wielding visitors, who are charged 900 baht ($170) for a four-hour trek, to get close to nature without having to trudge through the undergrowth.