Wild elephants were caught on camera sneaking into a luxury pool villa in Thailand.

The herd, led by an jumbo named Chaba Kaew, were seen visiting the villa in Nakhon Nayok province on October 6 evening.

At least four of the jumbos were used their leathery trunks to drink the saltwater pool water from the swimming pool.

Just a week later, Chaba Kaew returned with two younger elephants for another late-night drink.

CCTV footage shows the trio helping themselves to the water before wandering back into the forest.

The villa's owner said the jumbos had dropped by several times before but had never entered the pool.

He said: 'The pool uses saltwater and does not have chlorine added, so they will not have any tummy problems. The elephants came at night so there was no danger to anybody.'

Thailand has up to 3,500 elephants in the wild. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in the country at the beginning of the 20th century.

The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and conflict with humans.