Tourism activities decline with a drop in elephant rides among tourists

KATHMANDU, August 13: The tourist town of Sauraha is known for elephant safaris as a huge number of visiting tourists opt for elephant rides to enter the surrounding jungles. However, with the decreasing number of elephant safari tourists is gradually decreasing. Gokarn Giri, the former president of Restaurant and Bar Association Nepal (REBAN) Sauraha, said that only 30 percent of the tourists who come to Sauraha go on elephant safaris after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the past, tourists used to come to Sauraha to ride elephants. 90 percent of foreign tourists used to go on elephant safaris. Today, only 25 to 30 percent of those who come to Sauraha ride elephants. The trend is also decreasing among domestic tourists,” he said. 
With the decrease in tourists going for elephant rides, the elephant population in the region is also facing the same. 
The businessmen of Sauraha are reducing the elephants after the business stopped. Nagendra Chapagai said that since he could not keep elephants, he reduced them from three to one. "After keeping the car, it doesn't require petrol, but after keeping the elephants, even though there is no business, I had to feed them", he said while explaining the problem of keeping elephants, "I returned the 2 elephants brought from India as I could not afford the monthly expenses,” he shared.
According to him, owning an elephant costs around Rs 150,000 to Rs 200,000 per month. Until three years ago, elephants were seen here in large numbers in the region. However recently, Sauraha has not seen as many elephants as it used to. Until 2021, there were more than 100 private elephants, but now it is limited to 50. 
"There is a discussion about the displacement of elephants from Sauraha", Dipendra Khatiwada, president of the United Elephant Management Cooperative, said, "the number of elephants is decreasing every year."
He says that the number of elephants has decreased drastically after Corona. There are 110 elephants in Chitwan including wild and private elephants.
The government has listed Elephants as an endangered animal and has banned its sale. However, the business surrounding the largest mammals on land is rampant. Elephants are very important for the development of the tourism sector. Elephant safaris have been taking place commercially for over 45 years in Chitwan. It is estimated that there are around 700 wild and domesticated elephants in Nepal.
Dil Bahadur Purja, chief conservation officer of Chitwan National Park, says that elephant conservation is a challenge. He says that it is necessary to reduce the conflict between humans and elephants. Currently, there is no custom of keeping elephants registered in Nepal. He said that they are going to register them and arrange the operating environment.