Herd of elephants bring back charm to Nepal's tusker festival

Sauraha [Nepal], December 26 : The charm of the Elephant Festival has returned in Sauraha, a touristic town in the centre of southern Terai, as herd of tuskers has taken to the street after being halted for three consecutive years due to the COVID pandemic.
Held annually to drive tourists, the elephant festival, locally called 'Hatti Mahotsav' in Nepali, has resumed this year with a slew of changes.
The parade of tuskers started from the infamous sunset point of the touristic town on the edge of the Rapti River, marching down to the ground that lies about a kilometre away, followed by a musical and dance performance.

"We held the 16th edition of the Elephant Festival before the COVID pandemic. This is the 17th edition of this festival to boost Nepal's tourism sector in the post-pandemic situation. We want to draw the attention of domestic and international tourists to the fact that we are back on track and ready to provide them with quality service," Madhav Duwadi, a member of the Elephant Festival organising committee, told ANI.
After a hiatus of three years, the latest edition of the festival has made changes owing to protests by animal rights activists. The popular polo, football and races played by elephants have been kept off the schedule, leaving only the beauty pageant and picnic of tuskers.
"In previous years, we used to organise events focusing on elephants but this year we have mixed it with tourism and omitted the games that cause pain to the elephants. The elephant caravan, elephant beauty contest and elephant picnic are being held this year," Duwadi told ANI.

The unusual sport of elephant polo remained the most popular event of the festival, which has continued to be held every winter on the grass field of Sauraha.
A scion of horse polo, the elephant polo was first introduced in Nepal in 1982 after James Manclark started the pachyderm version of the sport with fellow enthusiast Jim Edwards. The first games were played on a grass airfield in Meghauli, which is located on the edge of Chitwan National Park.
The game is played by driving elephants using trainers called 'mahouts'. Initially, a soccer ball was used in the game. But they were replaced with standard polo balls after elephants started smashing the balls.
The sticks used in the game are made of bamboo and have a standard polo mallet on the end. This unusual sport has been attracting hordes of foreigners to the jungle safari destination of Chitwan.
In the polo game, nine elephants (four from each side and one referee) were each ridden by a mahout and a player. Animal rights activists say that the mahout forces the elephant to run after the ball, threatening pain and punishment if the elephant does not respond accordingly.
It was December 2018 when the polo was held for the last time in Nepal, was marred by criticism and exposed animal cruelty to the world. However, despite the absence of popular sports, their charm hasn't faded.
"The environment is joyous; the festival features various sports involving elephants. This shows respect and care for the pets and domestic animals, which gives us pleasure," Batuk Lal Tamang, an attendee of the annual tusker festival, told ANI.
The caravan of elephants that walked down the roads of Sauraha involved about 50 tuskers owned both by Chitwan National Park as well as private hotels. These elephants, who earlier used to carry up to six people at once through the jungle for 2-3 hours daily, now only tour with one or two people.
The giant mammals need about 150-250 kgs of food daily. It costs about 5,000 to 1,00,000 Nepali Rupees to house, feed and carry out the medical treatment of these captive elephants.
There are an estimated 100 captive elephants in Nepal, including those used by the government for jungle patrols. An adult elephant costs up to 10 million Nepalese Rupees.