A land like no other
Media Release – Sri Lanka Tourism
The Elephant Gathering, a popular visitor attraction in Island Sri Lanka
Not only is the gathering worth billions of rupees in revenue, it helps in the protection of this gentle animal.
Located between Habarana and Pollonnaruwa the 8,890 hectares of Minneriya National Park, is an ideal eco tourism location in Sri Lanka. The park consists of mixed evergreen forest and scrub areas and is home to Sri Lanka’s favourite species such as sambar deer, leopards and elephants.
The central feature of the park is the ancient Minneriya irrigation tank (built in 3rd century AD by King Mahasena). During the dry season, the surrounds of the tank is an incredible place to observe elephants who come to bathe and graze on the grasses as well as the huge flocks of birds (cormorants and painted storks to name but a few) that come to fish in the shallow waters.
Tucked away in the island's north central province, Minneriya provides an ideal venue for herds of elephants during the dry season when waterholes in the forests evaporate into cracked mud patches.
Almost three hundred of wild elephants gather each evening during the season along the banks of the Minneriya Tank for food, water, shelter -- and match-making.
Asian elephants are renowned as highly social animals and the reservoir or tank meetings demonstrate their complex group dynamics in action.
The atmosphere gives an ideal setting for a world phenomenon, where a high concentration of Asian elephants can be found at a single location during July to October each year.
Hotels in the Minneriya area use the “Gathering”
Hotels in Sigiriya, Dumbulla, Habarana and Giritale, in close proximity to the Minneriya Park could be earning a billion rupees collectively in revenue during the Gathering season.
According to Gehan de Silva Wijeratne from Jetwing Eco Holidays the gathering which runs from July to October and assuming rooms are sold for 14 weeks could earn seasonal revenue of Rs 9,996,000 or close to US $ 100,000.
The total daily revenue at 100% occupancy is Rs. 102,007 in these hotels and The Gathering could be worth a Billion Rupees of Half Board Room revenue.
In addition there will be other revenues from park fees, jeep hire, and guide fees.
Sri Lankan authorities spend substantial amounts in rehabilitation programmes which care for orphaned at Udawalewa National Park, where they are released to become part of the wild population.
As of June 2008, over 60 orphaned elephants have been returned to the wild by the Elephant Transit Home which was opened in 1995 by the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
Ongoing tracking of these animals has revealed that one of the elephants released in 1998 has given birth to a calf in the wild, the ultimate goal of endangered species rehabilitation.
In the wake of the human animal conflict in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan elephant- a subspecies of the Asian elephant is faced with shrinking and degraded habitat. Irrigation programmes for agriculture, which allow for human settlements in traditionally dry parts of the country, create problems for the Sri Lankan elephant population in several ways.
The encroachment of humans into this elephant habitat has resulted in increased human animal conflict. Each year one hundred or more elephants are killed as a result of this conflict. Calves orphaned when females are killed are found starving and alone. Elephants, especially young animals, also fall into irrigation ditches and become trapped, resulting in separation from their herd.
Tourism today gives an impetus to the elephant conservation efforts, where the park fees support the conservation efforts of the wildlife authorities. Calves are hand reared but contact with humans is limited to individual caregivers. The young elephants are encouraged to browse on natural foods as soon as they are healthy, reducing the amount of contact with humans. They can then be integrated into herds when they are weaned at three years of age. Once a group of elephants has socially bonded, it is ready for release.
Herds of four to eleven elephants are released in various parts of Udawalawe National Park. Generally these groups stay together for several months, and then disperse into wild herds within the park. Several members of each released group are radio collared so that they can be tracked to ensure that they are reintegrating successfully into the wild elephant population.
Because the Elephant Transit Home is able to release animals into the national park, there is some protection provided as they learn to live in the wild. The food that the elephants learn to browse on while in care, are the same as they find once they are released.
The presence of wild elephant herds within Udawalawe has meant that many of the orphaned calves that are released are adopted into a wild herd with experienced adult animals to aid their transition.
As part of the Sri Lankan government’s committment to protect the elephant, authorities the Wildlife Conservation effort also run the Pinnawela orphanage situated northwest of the town of Kegalle, halfway between Colombo and Kandy. This 24 acres elephant orphanage established by Sri Lanka’s Wild Life Department is also a breeding centre for elephants,where twenty elephants were born since 1984 and has the largest herd of elephants in captivity in the world. The difference between the elephant orphanage in Pinnawala and the Transit Home in Udawelawe, is that at the Transit Home baby elephants once cared for, are released to the wild when they reach a certain age.
The orphanage on the other hand, was primarily designed to afford care and protection to the many baby elephants found in the jungle without their mothers. In most of these cases the mother had either died or been killed. In some instances, the baby had fallen into a pit and in others the mother had fallen in and died. This facility attracts both local and foreign visitors and the income helps to maintain the activities of the orphanage.
There are only a few elephant orphanages in the world. Pinnawela has now become one of the bigger orphanages and is quite well known world wide.
Elephants hold aesthetic, cultural and economic importance in Sri Lanka. They are used for carrying timber and have a special significance and role at religious events. The Sri Lankan elephant is protected under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance of Sri Lanka (FFPO), and killing it, carries the death penalty.
Sri Lankan authorities do everything in their power to care for and protect these large fascinating, highly intelligent animals, which otherwise could disappear into extinction.
While Elephants provide tourism revenue amounting to billions of rupees, authorities also spend a substantial amount of funds and resources to protect them.
For more information:
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau
Media Unit
Tel: 2426958
Email: sulo@srilanka.travel
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
