As the interest of foreign tourists towards elephant safaris is decreasing, the businessmen of Sauraha have started looking for new options like 'Elephant Walk'.
What you should know
The attraction of elephant safari, which has become a brand of tourism in Chitwan Park, which brings in more than three lakh tourists annually, is not the same as before. In the past, 90 elephants used to go on safari in Sauraha region alone. Now that number has halved.
The elephant owner says that the number of elephants has started to decrease after Corona. There was a gathering of 60 elephants on Tuesday at the office of Baghmara Intermediate Forest in Saurahaad. On the occasion of the 14th International Elephant Day, the United Elephant Operation Cooperative, a cooperative of elephant operators who go on safari, held a forest feast for elephants. Not all the elephants who came to eat the picnic fruit dessert were elephants going on safari . There were 21 elephants from the government i.e. Chitwan National Park office . Park elephants don't go on safari. Those elephants are only used for patrolling and other conservation activities. Among the private elephants, four elephants from Sapna Village Lodge have also left to go on safari. The only elephants going on safari are the 30 elephants belonging to the cooperative and a few private elephants who come to have a picnic.
'Now there are 30 elephants of 24 people in our cooperative . Outside the cooperative, 15 elephants have been reared by private businessmen . While at one time there were 90 elephants going on safari in Sauraha, privately owned and not owned by the cooperative, said Dipendra Khatiwada, president of the United Elephant Operation Cooperative. Khatiwada has its own elephant. First he had two elephants. President Khatiwada says that there were up to 65 elephants in the cooperative at one time. "I have only had one elephant for 10/15 years." The number of elephants in the cooperative has decreased to 30 after covid," said Chairman Khatiwada.
Businessmen bought or rented elephants from India and kept them. Seeing that it will be difficult to keep elephants during the covid period, elephants are being returned or sold in India. He said that one lakh 50 thousand rupees per month including medical treatment of an elephant. An elephant is said to be worth one and a half million rupees. It's just as difficult to adopt . The order of removal of what the future will be in Covid increased . The number of elephants has been stable since three years, said Chairman Khatiwada.
Controversy has also arisen regarding the use of elephants in tourism. Foreign tourists, especially those coming from various European countries, do not prefer to go on elephant safaris. In December 2014, an organization in Germany made an appeal considering the use of elephants in tourism as unfair. The organization also requested the tour operators to reduce the tourist programs related to elephant riding. Soon after, tour operators from different countries in Europe started following it . The organization said that elephants used in safaris are being treated inhumanely and should not be approved.
Pro-Wildlife, which has an office in Munich, Germany, said in a statement issued on December 18, 2014, "In Asia and increasingly in Africa, elephant tusks are caught from the wild and used for profitable tourism." At that time, Pro-Wildlife's Daniela Freire issued a statement. Its effect was also seen in Chitwan's elephant safari .
"Foreign guests who went to ride the elephant started saying that the elephant was in pain. If the guests did not want to go on the elephant safari," said Dhruv Giri, owner of Hotel Sapna Village in Sauraha and president of Restaurant and Bar Association (Reban) Sauraha. Giri, who has been taking elephants on safari for 17 years, was worried about this. And he started a new program .
'I have four elephants now . Those elephants don't go on safari . When the elephant walks in the Kasghari area on the banks of the river, the guests also walk along and enjoy. It's been 5-6 years since I held this program which is called 'Elephant Bush Walk' said Giri . Most of those who walk in this way are tourists from Europe. After walking the bush, they eat breakfast with elephants. This package costs Rs 3500 per person. Safari has 25. They don't say that the money is too much. He is happy," Giri said. He said that due to the decrease in tourists going on safari, there is a need to add other elephant-friendly activities related to elephants. President Khatiwada said that the cooperative also started a similar 'Elephant Walk' a year ago.
Sauraha's old tourism businessman and conservationist Ramkumar Aryal says there should be diversity in elephant-related tourist activities. Elephant Walk can be such a measure, he said. Aryal, who started raising elephants almost 40 years ago, had four elephants. Now there are two . Some foreigners especially say that European elephants should not be mounted. Therefore, other methods of using elephants should be found,' said Aryal. After the elephant husbandry started for the safari was decided not to be done in the safari itself, the effect started to appear . In addition to this, new and other problems are also born. "Especially because wild male elephants come to the village in search of domestic female elephants and because of that, the complaints of the locals have increased. One after another, there are topics that arouse interest in raising elephants . Which has to be solved,' said Khatiwada, the chairman of the cooperative.
After the number of wild male elephants started to increase in the village, there are measures to keep all the domestic elephants in the forest area in an integrated manner. But Khatiwada said that the park administration should show readiness for this. The park department has studied to manage the problem caused by wild male elephants. Some appropriate method will come out," said Ganesh Pant, senior conservation officer who is the head of Chitwan Park. The demand of the elephant operators is that this issue should be addressed quickly. Khatiwada, the chairman of the cooperative, says that the green grass that the elephants eat is a problem, and other complex management problems have been inconvenient for a long time. He said that when the problems persist, the feeling of why elephants should be raised will be awakened. If elephants are not reared here, what will be the tourism of Sauraha? He questioned .
