Elephant Safari

We set off from Ranjit's place at Ratmale around 3pm bound for the nearby Kaudulla National Park. Jeeps can be hired for elephant safaris, and Neville had brought his jeep for us. The hiring charge is Rs. 3,500/ (US$35), inclusive of tip.

Fawzia, Ranjit, and Victor before the safari

We drove along a tank bund, passing large, shady "kumbuk" trees for miles. Kumbuk trees not only provide shade but are also believed to cool the water. ("Pondside" has a large "kumbuk" tree.) Villagers had come to bathe, as usual bringing their laundry for a wash by hand. In the dry zone forest, the tanks and these trees provide a welcome respite from the blazing sun.

Kaudulla is Sri Lanka's newest national park and is about 6600 hectares in extent. It provides a corridor for wild elephants to migrate from the area of Somawathiya to the Minneriya National Park. Elephants migrate looking for food and water. Rainfall patterns are the basis for these migrations.


We stopped at the modern visitors centre to pick up an official guide (this is a requirement to ensure the safety of visitors) and also to admire the exhibits, including some elephant skulls. Ranjit appeared to know the employees well and chatted with them about elephant sightings and other local gossip. Because of the ongoing civil war, and the possibility of being ambushed by Tiger rebels, the number of visitors to the park had dropped alarmingly. We saw only one other safari jeep.



With elephant skull at the Kaudulla Park Visitors Center

As we drove through the park, we saw about a dozen peacocks and a few more peahens. Peacocks are indigenous to this part of Sri Lanka and is a protected species. I was told that its also a nuisance to farmers. We soon came upon the large Kaudulla tank and began to see our first elephants, first as lone bulls, then in pairs, and finally in a herd of about 30.


Two young bulls away from the herd


The older bulls that lead herds do not tolerate the younger bulls, who may happen to be their own offspring. As in the case of cattle and monkeys, the older males jealously guard their right to mate with as many females as possible; as a result, the younger males f reproductive age are forced to live a life of celibacy and solitude. Probably because of their frustration, these lone elephants could also be dangerous. In fact, one made a half hearted charge at our jeep but stopped in his tracks when the driver stopped the jeep.



The herd seen at a distance

Towards late afternoon, the elephants appear out of the jungle and walk down to the Kaudulla tank for a drink and a cooling dip. The receding waters of the tank leave a growth of new grass which the elephants seem to relish. They are experts at taking a sod of earth in their trunks, shaking it against their legs or the ground to shake off the soil, and then swallowing the grass with obvious enjoyment. Even the baby elephants are good at this.

A closer look at the herd

We stopped the jeep and watched the elephants quietly for about 20 minutes. They went about feeding as if we weren't there, the big bull elephants keeping a wary eye not on us but in the direction of the jungle. The baby elephants were delightful, frolicking around and generally being a nuisance to their elders. Once, a she elephant, probably the mother, was seen to spank her baby with her trunk when the latter became a nuisance.

Another view of the herd

Sri Lanka's wild elephant population is estimated to be less than 3000, down from the thousands who roamed the jungles at the beginning of the 20th century. Unlike in Africa, elephants in Sri Lanka are not poached for their ivory because only about 3% of Sri Lankan elephants, and only males, have tusks. (All African elephants have tusks.) In Sri Lanka, elephants die mainly due to their conflicts with farmers. As the farms and other human settlements encroach on elephant territory, the elephants tend to raid these farms at night looking for easy food. Sometimes, they even attack and destroy houses or kill the residents of remote villages. As a result, the elephants are shot by the farmers. Where the railway runs through the jungle, elephants sometimes get run over by trains. In one terrible incident, four elephants were killed. About 100 wild elephants die in Sri Lanka each year from natural causes, accidents, and illegal shooting. We were therefore pleased to see the baby elephants in the Kaudulla herd. There is hope for the survival of the wild elephants in Sri Lanka.


We drove back to Ratmale glimpsing the setting sun through the "kumbuk" trees