Yesterday was Elephant Day, and I was considering writing about elephants, specifically topics such as elephant conservation, Project Elephant, elephant distribution in India, and elephant reserves.Â
No, I have written these topics before.
So, what to write about elephants? A big confusion.Â
While I was going to sleep, the thought came to my mind, let’s write about my encounter with the biggest land mammal and how I felt about it.
During my 21-year career as a biologist and ecotourism professional, I had many encounters with Asian elephants; some involved very close escapes, others were from a distance, some were enjoyable, and often, I experienced mock charges. But elephants are big mammals, and after every encounter I learned that keeping a safe distance from them is the only key to surviving an elephant attack. They are big mammals and can cover large distances very fast, sometimes faster than a gypsy.
In this blog, I would like to share some of my encounters with elephants in different parts of India and also share how I escaped, along with some tips on how to stay safe if you are in elephant country.
My first encounter
I started my wildlife career at the Wildlife Institute of India, a premier institute for studying wildlife science and conducting research as well. After my selection in a scientific project in which I had to monitor the population of tigers in different landscapes, I was posted in the Corbett Tiger Reserve.Â
Corbett Tiger Reserve is in the Himalayan foothills and Terai landscape of Uttarakhand. Because of its altitudinal diversity, it is one of the most biodiverse national parks of Northern India. Considering its importance in the conservation of wildlife, it was declared a national park in 1936, the first national park in India. Later, when the Indian government started the Tiger Project, it was the first tiger reserve and venue from which the project launched.
Corbett is the premier location for observing not only tigers but also elephants, and in 2006, when I was assigned here, I was extremely excited as it marked my first visit to this magnificent national park. My friend and I were posted in Corbett at one of the most beautifully located forest rest houses.
The rest house was located on a cliff overlooking a small grassland surrounded by hillocks and forests, and just close to the base of the cliff, there was a road that connected this rest house to the reserve’s main road. Elephants often visit this grassland, and occasionally, tigers do as well. My first tiger I saw here in this grassland was a mesmerizing event. There was an alarm call coming from the extreme right of the grassland.
There were two sambar deer that were giving alarm calls continuously. In the fraternity of wildlife conservationists and researchers, it is believed that if Sambar is giving an alarm call, it means there must be a tiger or leopard nearby, and it was true; a tiger emerged from the right corner of the grassland from the edge where the forest began. It was an extraordinary moment. But you know my camera was hanging from my neck, but I was so mesmerized by the beauty of the tiger, I forgot to click pictures.
Next was my encounter with a wild elephant. After returning from the field to check our camera traps, my friend and I were resting in our room. I was reading “Man-eaters of Kumaon” by Jim Corbett. I bought this book a few years ago but kept it as it is. I wanted to read all his stories in a real setting, so I was reading it.
Suddenly we heard the call from our people, the caretaker of the rest house, our field assistant, our driver, and the cook. They were all shouting very loudly. We ran outside our room. They were calling us and showing us something outside the rest house. An electric fence powered by solar energy protected our rest house from wild animals, so they all are standing inside the fence. We ran towards them and saw two bull elephants fighting with each other, just outside our rest house, in a small grassland. They were hardly 100 metres from us.
This was the most amazing wildlife moment in my life so far. The elephants were making lots of noise, which was echoing in the jungle. It was a scene that no Hollywood movie could ever replicate. Surround sound effects accompanied the clash of two giant elephants. A wonderful natural history unfolded before my eyes. After around half an hour one with a broken tusk pushed back the other one and came out victorious. Then he saw us, ran towards us but stopped just before the electric fence. This was my best elephant action scene in Corbett.
Later I had many encounters, some of them were very interesting but those interactions with wild elephants I will share in some other blog.Â
Bandipur Elephants
My next destination for wild elephants was Bandipur Tiger Reserve; here I was working in a lodge as a naturalist team leader. Bandipur Tiger Reserve is in the eastern part of the Western Ghats in the state of Karnataka. Western Ghats is recognized as the biodiversity’s hottest spot and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tiger reserve is a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which is known for its biodiversity richness. Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is one of the largest contiguous habitats of tigers and elephants in India, and it holds the distinction of having the largest population of both.
Though I was there in Bandipur for a very short duration, it was full of action. I encountered many snakes during my whole stay here. Wild dogs, spotted deer, leopards, and elephants were very common sightings here. On some occasions, we also spotted tigers, but less frequently. Though I don’t have many interesting encounters with wild elephants here, on one particular occasion I had something unique, which was very adventurous.
Bandipur was my first job, where I led a team of two other naturalists, making a total of three naturalists, including myself. When I joined there, the lodge was under construction, and it took almost a month to finish it. Â Once we finished, we started taking guests, and I had the privilege to accompany some famous personalities from nearby metro cities, which included the chairman of Wipro and his family. In the following days, we had very few guests due to the lodge being newly constructed and the fact that it was off-season.
One evening, we were waiting for our guests to arrive, a family coming from Bengaluru. We kept them calling so that we could guide them to the lodge. To reach the lodge, people coming from Bengaluru have to come via a highway passing through the reserve. Just near the forest department office, there is a left turn that leads to a dirt road going through the forests and villages. There are chances that one will spot wild animals, which include tigers, elephants, and leopards, on this road.
We received a call from our guests that when they took the left turn, after around 100 meters, there was a tusk standing in the middle of the road. Accompanied by the other naturalists and the driver, we drove to the location; it was completely dark, but when we turned on the vehicle’s lights, we spotted a large tusker. He was the biggest tusker I have ever seen; he was standing in the middle of the road, and on the other side we spotted the vehicle of our guests, who were frightened and waiting for the tusker to give way.
The tusker was looking aggressive, and getting close to it could be a dangerous adventure, which may cost few lives. We took back our vehicle and started making noise to scare him away. Though we were really frightened, we had no other options. After a few attempts, the tuskers moved to the forest on the left side of the road, and we felt a sense of relief.
We then had to turn back our vehicle, but it was not possible to do so on the road where we were standing, so we decided to drive our vehicle forward instead. While passing by our guests’ vehicle, my naturalist stepped down to explain the route to the lodge, accompanied by another person from the lodge.
After knowing the route, the guests continued their journey, and my naturalist, with one more person, was standing there, waiting for us. When we turned back our vehicle and moved towards my naturalist who was standing on left side of the road, the vehicle’s flashlight illuminated a big male leopard jumping from behind him to the other side of the road. It was a big leopard and jumped not more than a meter from my naturalist.
We were shocked, and my naturalist was surprised to know that a leopard had just crossed the road from one meter behind him. This was the scariest encounter with a leopard I had. We don’t know if one wrong step by my naturalist could become fatal and the leopard might attack him.
After this encounter I saw many leopards and elephants in Bandipur, but that was the scariest encounter with them.
More Encounters for next blog
These animal encounters remind us that the jungle is for wildlife, and we are just visitors; we must act responsibly, as any incidents are not the wild animals’ fault.
After Bandipur I had few more animal encounters, especially elephants, which I will share in another blog. There are some from Corbett, one from Satpura, a few from Kaziranga, and one from Bandhavgarh.
