Elephant Encounters by the Tree Hut
Corridor
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| Safe on the Defender |
It was mid-July 2010 and we
were headed to the Tree Hut Corridor to observe and film elephants. With
me in the Defender were the film crew from New York based Greener Media Film-production
Company and three international volunteers. The volunteers: Emma, Rachel
and Samantha had come down from the UK and the USA to volunteer with the SLWCS
for a month. The film crew consisted of Phil, Jon and Jesse, and this was
their second visit in two years to Sri Lanka. They were producing a
documentary film on human-elephant conflicts (please visit http://www.humanelephantconflict.com/
for information about this film).
Expectations were high in the vehicle—today we hoped to get footage of
wild elephants and people interacting along the Tree Hut Corridor which we
frequently monitored as part of our ongoing efforts to gather data on
human-elephant conflicts. Monitoring and recording these observations was
one of the several activities volunteers helped us with.
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| A volunteer recording observations from the tree hut |
Turning off from the main road
we drove down a gravel road that led through the Weheragalagama village, over
the tank (reservoir) bund, down the causeway where the water from the tank spill
drained, pass the Tree Hut Corridor to two small villages located deep in the
forest reserve. As we drove along on the bund the Himbiliyakade Forest
Range stretched parallel in the west directly across the tank, forming a chain
of green undulating hills with the Knuckles Mountain range providing the backdrop in the far distance.
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| The hills of the Himbiliyakade Forest Range mirrored on the Weheragalagama tank |
The sky was a vast blue empty nothingness with a few scattered cirrus clouds floating lazily like strands of white candy floss let loose by an errant child. Brahminy kites and a pair of white bellied sea
eagles soared and glided on air currents rising from the tank. Without
doubt they were keeping their eyes out to snatch any unwary fish that came up gasping
for air. Closer to the surface by the water with similar intent were
egrets, woolly neck storks, lesser adjutants, white-throated kingfishers, stork billed
kingfishers, common kingfishers, pied kingfishers, painted storks, pond herons,
ibis, spoonbills, bitterns, water hens, terns, pelicans and many more avian
denizens. They were also keeping somber vigil to catch whatever unsuspecting
fish that came anywhere near them.
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| Brahminy Kites circling over the tank |
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| Great Egret |
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| Lesser Adjutant Storks |
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| Black-winged Stilts |
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| Spotted Redshank |
.JPG) |
| Annhinga aka Snake Bird or Oriental Darter and a Grey Heron |
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| Water Monitor |
Together this consisted of a
four-pronged attack on fish for consumption from that particular body of water
alone. Taken from a global context it is a wonder how fish ever managed
to survive for over 400 million years since the Devonian Period—when they got
really numerous or in the jargon of evolutionary scientists “radiated,” when
all these predatory avian, reptilian and mammalian fauna had a passion for
eating them! Going by the great demand for fresh fish in nature, Sushi
must be the first and most popular fish recipe in the world and it was definitely
not invented by the Japanese—unless of course the Japanese could trace their
ancestry to a kimono dressed piscivore from the Devonian Period.
The Defender crossed the
causeway splashing over the shallow puddle of water that had seeped from the
spill. On the other side the road had several large potholes and corrugations
created by the last monsoon rains. The Defender with its spring
suspension rocked and bucked like the ark must have done during the deluge.
To everyone’s relief the road smoothened out soon enough and we came to
where the road cuts across the Tree Hut Corridor. Here it stretched straight
up to the horizon and disappeared over it. That sight for some reason never
failed to invoke in me a yearning for the infinite wetlands of my childhood
that are no more.
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| The road that cuts across the Tree Hut Corridor |
Making a right turn and crossing
a ditch we head off-road up to a tree where a large and comfortable tree hut had
been constructed by us. The most distinguished
guest we had in this tree hut was the former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, the honorable
Patricia Butenis, an ardent and passionate environmentalist and animal lover.
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| Arriving by the Tree Hut |
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| The tall Mana grass hid elephants very effectively |
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| People are allowed to alight and climb only after checking for elephants nearby |
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Climbing up to the Tree Hut a la Swiss Family Robinson
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In Sri Lanka the relationship
between people and elephants goes back several thousand years. The
elephant is viewed as a living cultural and religious icon because of the
important role it still played in the culture of the country. But today
this relationship had reached a new low, which is human-elephant conflict that
resulted in the death of over 200 elephants and about 80 people annually.
For the past 16 years the SLWCS has been addressing this issue by
developing innovative measures to mitigate human-elephant conflicts under its
land mark and international award winning project, Saving Elephants by Helping
People (SEHP). These efforts have slowly and gradually brought dividends
to the people and elephants at our project site in Wasgamuwa in the Central
Province of Sri Lanka. Earlier enemies now tolerated each other to an extent
that it was possible to observe people and elephants using a corridor and not
trying to kill each other. This was an incredible sight to see especially
on days when men, women and children traveled back and forth from school and
work on this road while on either side there were elephants. These were
the interactions that the volunteers were going to observe and record and the
crew from Greener Media hoped to film. The SEHP Project in 2008 received
a prestigious UNDP Equator Initiative Equator Prize for its outstanding efforts
to alleviate poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity.
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| Receiving a UNDP Equator Initiative Prize in 2008 |
By the time we settled
ourselves in the tree hut it was about 4 pm, which was just about the right
time, because as the sun started to sink behind the hills and the day got
cooler elephants began to move out of the forests and head towards the
grasslands. Up in the tree hut the film crew set up their camera and
sound equipment to get into instant action as soon as the first elephant showed
up. It was vitally important to be quiet and I had insisted on it and had
imposed while in the tree hut any and all conversations or anything anyone had
to say had to be whispered or mimed. Unless of course, it was an urgent
matter such as an elephant was trying to climb up the tree! The tree of course had been selected to ensure that an elephant could not push it down.
Elephants had very good
hearing and they would get alarmed at the merest sound of our voices. It
was not to our best interest to alarm them before they came close to the tree
hut. Most wild animals were easily frightened and took instant flight at
the sound of the human voice. I’m not surprised at all! There are a few
people I know whose voices scare the hell out of me too! Elephants were
no exception unless they were otherwise occupied, such as charging to attack or
when raiding fields and homes for food. Then no amount of shouting or
screaming would deter them and the only hope was to have a good exit plan.
It had been suggested that if an elephant made a determined charge while you were on foot to leave something behind as a memento while attempting to get away.
The shirt or the backpack left conspicuously behind would suffice since there
really wouldn't be enough time to discard the pants and the time it would take
to do so would be counterproductive—unless of course one was wearing a
sarong. Actually this had worked—meaning not jettisoning the lower
garment but leaving something behind. It had helped to distract or
divert the attention of a charging elephant. I had once experienced this
quite accidentally and quite unintentionally of course, at Lahugala in the
Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. I had not repeated it again, nor do I have the intention of doing it again either. Therefore I cannot guarantee that it works always.
Twenty feet above the ground out
of the reach of elephants we whispered like conspirators, and mimed to convey
complex ideas using facial expressions for which generally actors receive
academy awards. Phil who was the producer as well as the cameraman
whispered, “How long will we have to wait before they showed up.”
“That is hard to say but
generally by around this time they should start coming out of the forest,” I
replied.
“Are there days that they
never show up,” Jesse inquired in a bass whisper that reminded me of Barry
White.
“Of course some days they don’t
show up, but hopefully today will not be one of those days.”
The SLWCS gathered data on
human elephant interactions from the tree hut so the three volunteers got
prepared to record their observations that evening. This was one of the
several field activities that volunteers helped us with. Emma had the
clipboard to record data while Rachel and Samantha would observe and report
whatever the activities they observed.
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| The U.S. Ambassador pointing out at elephants while volunteers: Emma and Samantha record their observations |
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| A part of a herd with a small calf walking away from the Tree Hut |
The reason to gather this
information was to look at the temporal dynamics of how elephants used the Tree
Hut Corridor and how important it was to their annual ranging cycle. Because
people and elephants both used the corridor we wanted to find out the effects and impacts
they had on each other. It was an unusual and incredible sight to see.
Groups of children walked to school or home on this road and on either side
there were elephants! Only very rarely had we observed bulls attempting
to charge or attack people. On these rare occasions the bulls had been mostly
bluffing and the people too have also learned to behave sensibly during these
times. Probably that is why so far there had been no untoward incidents.
On several such occasions when SLWCS field teams had been present they
had intervened to safeguard the people by transporting or escorting them to the
safety of their homes in our field vehicles.
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| A Cyclist on the road that went across the Tree Hut Corridor |
The crack of a snapping branch
sounded very loud in the stillness of the late afternoon. It completely
halted our whispered discussion in mid-conversation. I gestured hurriedly
for everybody to be quiet and we gazed in the direction the sound had come
from. Suddenly there was another crack
and then another and soon all that could be heard were elephants feeding in the
forest. They were browsing and grazing and the sounds gradually got
louder and louder as they moved towards where we were. Everybody kept
scanning up and down the forest edge to spot where they would emerge
from.
The film team immediately got
their equipment ready and the volunteers took up their positions to make
observations and record data. Rumbles from the elephants reverberated
over to us interspersed with the peculiar squeaky noise they made. This was a high pitched sound I have heard
members of a herd make when they were relaxed and content or when they were
nervous and stressed. The piercing trumpet calls set our hearts thumping
and bodies tingling with adrenalin. As
the sounds of feeding and calling got closer it became apparent that it was a
large herd and they were spread out as they fed and moved towards the tree hut.
An elephant that was barely
visible through the trees gradually drifted into view, its sinuous trunk snaking
around bunches of grass that it scythed effortlessly and transported to its
cavernous maw. Just behind it was
another elephant similarly occupied and if they continued would come right
underneath the tree we were waiting.
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| An elephant emerging from the forest |
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| For such large animals the fluidity in their motions is incredible to watch |
As they fed some of them would throw grass and dirt over their backs. This must be grass that must have tasted bad. I wish I could do the same when eating out at
a swanky restaurant. The dishes that were not up to expectations could be sent sailing over the shoulders. Yikes! This
dish tastes awful, here it goes. “Sorry
old chap did not mean to festoon you with this delicate gourmet dish.” Just imagine
the fun on a day when several disgruntled customers were around at the same time. It would be like a Greek wedding! As
more of them appeared—elephants I meant and not disgruntled customers—the
ones in the lead would raise their trunks to check for danger.
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| As they grazed they would throw grass and soil on to their backs |
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| A part of a herd emerging and a lead elephant checking for danger |
About half the herd had come out into the open when
in the distance emanated the distinct sound of a tuk tuk also known as a Bajaj
three wheeled vehicle. With its small two-stroke engine sputtering and
straining the tuk tuk appeared far away headed in our direction and would
shortly go past the tree hut. As the tuk tuk got nearer and louder the
entire herd became completely silent and then there was the sound of them
rushing back to the jungle. One minute
they were there and in the next they were gone. The film crew and the
volunteers looked deeply disappointed. Due to their despondent state I
had to remind the girls to note down what they had observed.
"What do we do now?” Phil asked
miserably.
“We wait, the herd will come
back.” I retorted.
Likewise in a short while we could
hear them feeding and moving in our direction. This time though they had
moved a bit north from where they were before. Earlier they would have
come right underneath the tree hut. But
now they would appear a little bit further away from where we were. While we
could still see them it was not as good as if they had been right underneath
us. Peering through the canopy we
attempted to get a visual of the elephants. I was staring at a place where I could just
make out an elephant when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. It was Jon to point out where most of the herd
had come out from. It seemed they had moved
even further away and were hardly perceptible from the tree hut especially for
filming.
Phil looked at me and said in
a dejected tone, “They are a bit too far to get good footage.”
It seemed at that range it
would not be possible. I had not expected them to move that far when they
returned.
“What do you suggest,” Phil
asked.
“It depends on you, and if you
are courageous enough.” I replied.
“What do you mean?” Phil
asked.
“We could approach them in the
vehicle.”
“Why do you need to be
courageous to do that? We are in a vehicle...will be safe...right? Or we are not?
Jon asked hesitantly.
“Well... not actually inside.”
I remarked casually.
“Oh! What do you mean?” Phil
asked looking me straight in the eye probably having a presentiment about what
was going to come.
“What I had in mind was for
you to be outside.”
Jon’s expression was
quizzical, “you want Phil to be outside the vehicle when we drive up to the
elephants?”
“You and him both”
“What the ...” Jon
exclaimed.
“Alright, let me make it
clear. You both will up on the roof of the Defender and the rest of us
will push it up to the elephants. This way we will not cause any alarm by
driving up to them. There it is. What do you guys think? Are you up to
it?”
Phil grinning, “You have some
brilliant ideas I must say.”
“That is just terrific,” Jon
retorted.
So how often have you done
this? Rachel wanted to know.
“I have lost count,” I
grinned.
Emma, Samantha and Rachel
demanded that they also wanted to be on the roof with the guys. “We’ll be good
and not be a disturbance. We will behave,” they promised.
“How you behave does not matter.
It all depends on how the elephants will behave. I remarked.
“How would they react?” Jesse
inquired.
Elephants were unpredictable
as much as any other animal, human being or politician was. There was no way of
saying how an elephant or a herd would behave under a given situation. There
was only one way to find out.
Let’s do it and see how
they’ll react,” I said climbing down from the tree hut.
A roof top view of elephants
Phil climbed onto the front
bumper and from there to the mud guard and sat himself on the front crossbar of
the roll cage on the roof. When he gestured that he was ready I passed
the camera up to him very carefully. Behind Phil to the side Jon knelt
down with the recorder and the shotgun microphone. Jesse, the three
girls and I pushed the Defender towards the elephants. From the driver’s side window I steered it while
pushing against the window sill. After the initial effort the slightly
inclined road and its own momentum kept the car moving forward without much
effort on our part.
The gravel crunched loudly underneath
the wheels and our bare feet. The crunching gravel and our labored
breathing were the only sounds that were audible as we pushed the car. The mobile roof top elephant-cam slowly and
gradually inched forward and got close to the herd. I kept looking up
frequently to make sure that we didn’t roll the vehicle with Phil and Jon on
the roof right into the midst of the herd. Honestly, I wanted this
documentary to get completed. We needed it to create global awareness
about the plight of the Asian elephant. A pancaked film crew would be of
no help.
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| Filming and observing elephants from the roof |
Remarkably the herd did not
pay much attention to the slowly approaching vehicle. One or two elephants looked up and stared at
us and then went back to feeding as if a Defender cruising on human power was
something they were quite used too. When we got to about 30 feet from the
herd I called a halt. It would have been possible to get much closer but
I was concerned. There were too many people on the roof to clamber into
the vehicle hurriedly if an elephant took offense at been pried upon from a Land
Rover roof!
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| A part of the herd emerging from the forest |
Phil filmed the herd until
failing light made it impossible to shoot anymore. Some elephants ventured very close to the vehicle. He managed to get some remarkable close up footage of elephants and also of pedestrians, people on bicycles, motorcycles and the ubiquitous and
raucous tuk tuks going by the herd.
Whenever one of these intruders came along, the herd would just clumped
together and remain silent hiding behind tall grass or scrub. These people had either walked or driven by
quite oblivious to the fact that a herd of wild elephants were just a few feet
away.
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| A noisy Tuk Tuk driving past an elephant |
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| A Tuk Tuk with lights blazing driving by a herd that is hardly discernible |
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| One of the feeding elephants had ventured quite close to the vehicle |
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| To approach people this close while feeding means the elephants felt comfortable with the situation. Notwithstanding how comfortable the people felt though! |
After sunset only the stupid and
the drunk venture on foot in areas where elephants frequent. An interesting fact is, of the eighty odd
people that are killed annually by elephants in Sri Lanka, the majority is men
and of these men the majority had been intoxicated at the time. The false sense of bravado that intoxication imbues
had been the main cause for their deaths.
According to the accounts of sober companions who had been present—these
men had gone to challenge the elephant and/or refused to seek safety which had
of course led to their unfortunate demise. It is in fact quite disconcerting even to
imagine this ridiculous situation: where a puny man is telling a 10,000 pound
elephant to bugger off the road.
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| A man walking past a herd that had clumped together and are hiding in the grass |
On a pitch black night we were
driving to one of our field stations located deep in the forest. The night was
so dark it felt like a solid wall. Coming
around a bend—we gasped in disbelief because illuminated in the head light
beams were two men. They were drunk to
high heavens, stood on the middle of the road holding on to each other, and were
staring in our direction with wide unfocused eyes. The headlights had probably
blinded whatever visual faculty they had in their alcohol infused state. Good thing we don’t believe in metaphysical
apparitions. Otherwise the manner in which
they just popped out of the darkness like that would’ve scared the hell out of anybody.
What was even more incredible was
the fact that we had just passed by several bulls that obviously these two men must
have walked past too. This goes to show
the leniency of elephants sometimes towards idiot and drunks or just shows that
the guardian angels of drunks and imbeciles must work overtime. We hauled in the two inebriated nut cases
into the Land Rover to drop them off at their homes in the village. I feared we will get high just breathing the
fumes they were emanating. By the time
they were dropped off at their homes—assuming they were their homes but going by the
commotions we heard as we left it could be that they had gone into the wrong
homes—everyone was practically gasping for air.
This evening fortunately for
us after dusk ended no one came on the road—no not even drunks to disturb the tranquility
of the elephants and us. In the dark it was great to sit under that vast lustrous
canopy and listen to the sounds of the herd feeding contentedly. The years of hard work resolving
human-elephant conflicts in this area by the SLWCS seemed to have paid off at least for
these elephants and the people of this area. But it is tenuous at most. There are undesirable elements with vested interests, lack
of knowledge and ill-planned agendas always conspiring to destroy this hard won
coexistence. That is why it is important
for us to continue to monitor as well as work with the local communities and
authorities to ensure that we save this microcosm of where people and elephants
seems to get along, for posterity. The
volunteers are important and vital allies whose help and contributions are critical
to make these efforts successful.
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| Thank You volunteers! |
