Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise

Southern Thailand is the Thailand we think we all know. It's a place of both spectacular natural beauty and of wild parties, but behind this well-known image is also a place of unexpected surprise, where spirituality pervades every bit of life. For the animals that live here, this is natural wonderland.

In Central Thailand's forests, fertile plains and even city streets, nature finds a way of living alongside people. Away from the skyscrapers of Bangkok and the manicured lawns of Lumpini Park, where enormous water monitor lizards mingle with the picnicking families, a ceremony epitomising the Thai Buddhist notion of 'making merit' takes place. A group of formerly captive elephants are released by Thailand's beloved Princess Sirindhorn into the forest. They will now form part of a herd of rehabilitated elephants that live and breed as wild elephants once more.

In the jungles of Phu Khieo live some unusual primates. Phayre's leaf monkeys live up to their name eating the leaves of around a hundred different types of plant.