This is the breathtaking moment a family of more than 30 wild elephants crossed a road after trampling across a golf course.

The jumbos caused panic when they left the depths of the forest and wandered across the fairway in Chanthaburi, eastern Thailand, on September 20.

Wildlife rangers received the alert on their radios and raced to a stretch of road to intercept the elephants.

They stopped traffic to allow them to cross safely from the golf course into woodland. There were more than 30 of the animals of different ages.

Onlooker, Auan, said: ''It's rare to see a whole herd of the elephants together in the open. Normally they stay deep inside the jungle.''

Sommai Kwangthong, head of the Forest Protection Unit, said the elephants were searching for food.