Nepal celebrates 16th edition of Elephant Festival to bring humans and mammals together

In order to encourage wildlife protection and conservation to promote tourism in Nepal, the people took part in the 16th edition of Elephant Festival, on Monday, which aims to bring humans closer to elephants. The competition that took place in Sauraha, the tourism hub in southwest Nepal's Chitwan district featured five elephants. The jury consisted of three members who evaluated the elephants on the basis of cleanliness

Other parameters that the jury judged the jumbos on included their body and nails, the style of walking, discipline, in words carrying out orders given by mahouts. A mahout is a person who works with, rides, and tends to an elephant. It is a mahout's duty to prepare the elephant for the show. 

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Mahouts on tending Elephants

Jire Chaudhary,  a mahout whose elephant took part in the show said, "We train them. We teach them all the things. It takes us around 6-7 months to prepare them for it and only after that they are allowed to participate in the competition. We bring materials required to prepare the elephants, including the colours, mix them up and paint over the bodies of an elephant right on-spot."

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Reportedly, the time required to get an elephant ready for the competition takes an hour. The jumbos that win the competition gets a treat of delicious food such as sugarcane, banana, papaya and other varieties whereas the owner of the elephant is awarded a cash prize. Raising concerns about wildlife conservation, the annual elephant festival also brings humans close to the mammals. The competition this years was a part of the 'Visit Nepal Year 2020' campaign.

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(With ANI Inputs)