(NEWS) BANGKOK, Thailand, 2026-Aug-11 — /Travel PR News/ — Anantara Hotels & Resorts is continuing its People Who Inspire anniversary series with the story of Dr Nissa Mututanont, the veterinarian caring for rescued elephants at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Northern Thailand.
Set beside Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort, the foundation works across a 160-acre bamboo forest sanctuary in the misty highlands where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet. The setting is striking, but the work behind it is practical, patient and deeply human.
According to details released by Anantara, Dr Nissa serves as head veterinarian at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, where she oversees the wellbeing of 22 rescued elephants. Many of the animals once worked in city streets, circuses or tourist settings. Having been raised around people, they cannot simply be released into the wild.
Instead, the foundation provides a protected environment where the elephants can live with greater safety, stability and care. Their interactions with guests from the neighbouring resort are limited to scheduled, respectful activities such as guided walks, feeding and bathing, all designed around the animals’ needs.
For guests, that means the experience is less about performance and more about observation, proximity and understanding. Some watch the herd from wide resort verandas, while others stay in transparent jungle bubbles placed within the forest landscape, close enough to feel the presence of the elephants without disrupting their rhythms.
Dr Nissa’s path into elephant care was not straightforward. She originally imagined becoming a small-animal veterinarian, training in urban environments such as New York City and Khon Kaen. Her work today still involves daily rounds, but instead of city apartments or clinics, those visits take her through a traditional mahout village and into the forest.
Since joining the foundation in 2015, she has learned to read the elephants through subtle patterns of behaviour: how they eat, how they respond to people, how they express preference, caution, grief, trust or curiosity. In the world of elephant care, those details matter.
Her approach also reflects a broader shift in responsible animal tourism. The work is not based on control, but on cooperation. Using padded sticks, gentle cues and small rewards such as sunflower seeds, Dr Nissa helps elephants participate voluntarily in aspects of their own medical care.
That kind of target training reduces stress and creates safer conditions for both animals and handlers. It has also become part of the foundation’s wider knowledge-sharing work, with Dr Nissa helping train more than 400 mahouts in techniques that encourage trust rather than fear.
The relationship between elephant and mahout remains central to the work. Dr Nissa describes the elephant as the old world and the mahout as the modern world, moving together as one. Her time with traditional handlers has also reshaped her understanding of Thai culture and the responsibility that comes with caring for animals so closely tied to the country’s identity.
Not every elephant wants the same level of interaction. Some are social and take part in the resort’s Walking with Giants experience. Others, particularly older elephants, prefer quiet. For them, Dr Nissa prepares medicinal food balls as part of a daily routine shaped by care, familiarity and respect.
Two elephants stand out in her story. Poonlarp, who once worked in a circus and lost part of her ear, still greets Dr Nissa with bright eyes and a request for treats. After grieving the loss of her daughter, she gradually found companionship again with another elephant, Yuki.
Then there is Jathong, described as calm and wise. Despite having had seven mahouts over her lifetime, she has remained gentle and accepting of new human companions. Today, she spends her time with Kummool and even takes part in overnight stays near the Jungle Bubble Lodge.
These individual stories help explain the foundation’s purpose. Since its establishment, the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation has supported more than 50 animals, offering care to elephants whose lives have often been shaped by work, displacement and changing attitudes toward animal tourism.
For Anantara, Dr Nissa’s story fits naturally into the brand’s 25th anniversary People Who Inspire series, which highlights individuals connected to meaningful travel experiences across its destinations. In this case, the focus is not only on a resort or a landscape, but on the long-term responsibility behind an elephant sanctuary.
The story also reflects how luxury hospitality is increasingly being asked to engage more thoughtfully with conservation, culture and community. At Anantara Golden Triangle, the guest experience depends on the credibility of the work happening behind the scenes: veterinary care, mahout training, animal welfare and a clear understanding that elephants are not attractions, but living beings with histories and needs.
Dr Nissa describes herself, in some way, as a guardian of the elephant. Her hope is for a future that is kinder and more understanding of their circumstances.
That message gives the anniversary feature its strongest meaning. In Northern Thailand’s Golden Triangle, the most memorable travel story is not only about seeing elephants. It is about the people working every day to make sure those elephants are seen differently.
