The bumpy path snaked down from the winding road to the sun-baked Ruam Thai village in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Kui Buri district. Here is where Thanasit Phiboonwatthanakorn’s mother bought a small cabin and ran a rubber plantation because she wanted to live in the woods. When she passed away, Thanasit inherited the 28-rai farmland and knew that he would have wild guests.
Thanasit sat down under the roof of his wood house after he worked on the farm until noon. He pointed to the border where wild elephants often sneak in and out of the forest inside the Kui Buri National Park in search of “holy grails” at night.
“They forage for pineapples over…
