Decrease in Elephant safaris affecting tourism growth in Sauraha

CHITWAN, August 26: Elephant Safari, an attractive tourism activity introduced in 1983 in Chitwan has been seeing less and less tourist activity in recent days.

Gokarna Giri, the former president of Restaurant and Bar Association Nepal (REBAN) Sauraha, informed that the number of tourists going on elephant safaris is gradually decreasing. He informed that after the spread of COVId-19, only 25 percent of the tourists who come to Sauraha chose elephant safari.

He said that the lack of activity of elephants has also affected the tourism of Sauraha. “Most of the visitors came to observe the activities of the elephants. Some used to play with children, some went on safari, but since the choice of tourists towards elephant safari is decreasing, there is a big loss in tourism,” he said. Giri also said that the number of elephants has also decreased with the decrease in the number of elephant safari tourists.

According to him, there are 110 elephants in Chitwan including government and private elephants. Among them, there are 60 government elephants in the district. He said that there are 30 elephants in the United Elephant Ride Operation Cooperative, eight in Sapna Village, and four belonging to foreign nationals among others. He stressed the need for the state to pay attention to the conservation of elephants, which are a strong pillar of the tourism industry linked to the economy of the state.