BASKING in the crystal clear waters the last working aquatic elephant has finally hung up his trunk and slipped into retirement. Rajan, the 60-year-old elephant used to be a regular sight in the Andaman Islands, south of India, yet this five tonne Asian elephant is the last of his kind. Enjoying healthy swimming sessions in the twilight of his life, Rajan swims for ten minutes twice a day, completing about 500 yards before heading back to shore. Replaced by motorised boats, Rajan no longer needs to swim miles between islands to work for his human keeper, who is known as a ‘mahout’. In his retirement Rajan can now enjoy swimming purely for pleasure with his human mahoud, who has been best friends with him for over 30 years. Brazilian Photographer, Daniel Botelho, 30, travelled to the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean after hearing stories of islanders swimming with the giant beasts. “The elephant always swims at five o´clock in the morning as he does not like the sun,” said Daniel. “I needed to be very careful, as the animal could smash me at any time. “I would swim between him and the sea bottom - but I almost got killed by the elephant during one photo shoot. “Suddenly swell came and took me and the elephant by surprise. “I was stuck in the sand because of the crash of the wave. “He did his best not to kill me - I felt him rolling on top and away from me. “But it was an amazing experience to swim with an elephant. “I felt like that could be one of the best days of my life.” Despite his scarily close encounter with Rajan, Daniel still thinks fondly of the intelligent beast, and explained his significance as the last of his kind. “Local people used elephants as we used horses to work,” said Daniel. “When something needed to be built on an island they moved the animals by swimming long distances with them. “Those swimming elephants were all trained by their mahouds. “Now nobody has an economic interest in spending ten years training elephants to swim. “As this is the last elephant to dive, he represents the end of an old culture.”