Tourists receive massages from a three tonne elephant

Tourists are flocking to an elephant camp to get a massage with a difference – from a THREE TONNE elephant.

The spa treatment is being offered in Chang Mai, Thailand, where a number of Asian elephants – that can weigh anywhere from 2.25 to 5.5 tonnes – administer the massage using their trunk and feet.

The Asian elephants administer the massage using their trunk and feet

But the unusual massage isn’t for the feint hearted – with one wrong move proving potentially deadly.

Ian Maclean, from Hawaii, USA, captured two foreign tourists – one male and another female – lying on the ground with a towel over their midriff.

The giant Asian elephant is then led up to the tourists by a mahout, before ‘gently’ patting them to replicate the techniques used by masseurs.

One wrong move from the two tonne elephant could prove potentially deadly

Ian said: “During my travels around Asia I have seen many unusual animal massages including one with four Burmese pythons.

“In places like Thailand entrepreneurial safari park owners see it as a way of making some extra money.

“But this elephant one is a little more challenging purely thanks to the animals sheer size and power.

“It looked quite dangerous and I saw many years ago the perils when an elephant stepped on a tourist’s leg. You can imagine what happened and the pain that person was in.

“But if you are brave enough, it is one for the bucket list.”