This is the heartwarming moment a tourist was moved to tears as his lifelong dream of seeing elephants in the wild came true.

Tour guide Chanapon Klinmek accompanied the couple to see a herd of jumbos in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast Thailand.

Footage shows the holidaymaker in a white shirt bursting into tears as he watches the group of pachyderms ambling on the road on October 21.

His partner can be seen comforting him, caressing his head as he sobs with joy.

Chanapon said: 'It was their first time in Thailand. They were lucky enough to see an entire elephant family and were so happy.

'The couple love nature and wildlife, so in the morning we took them on a jungle walk to look for animals and then visited a waterfall. But what they were truly waiting for was the afternoon elephant-spotting drive.

'Throughout the route, we found many signs of elephants like their footprints, dung, and fresh feeding marks scattered across the road, yet no elephants appeared. When they did, he was overcome with emotion.'

Chanapon recalled that when they were about to head back to the hotel, his friend from the elephant monitoring team called and told them that there were elephants nearby, so they rushed to the location.

Thailand has up to 3,500 elephants in the wild, but it is rare to see them as they stay deep within the country's forests.