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| A magnificent tusker crossing the road at the Crossing Point |
To be up on a tree hut in the jungle is
an exhilarating experience. It was undoubtedly also about making connections with one’s childhood—bringing to life
childhood fantasies as a result of reading Swiss Family Robinson, Tarzan of the
Apes, and Robinson Crusoe. Incidentally,
Daniel Defoe based Robinson Crusoe on Englishman, Robert Knox’s experiences of
20 years forced incarceration in Sri Lanka by the last King of Kandy, Sri
Vikrama Rajasinha.
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| Group of volunteers in t he Tree Hut - a la Swiss Family Robinson |
I assure we were not making an enactment
of “Me Tarzan You Jane” since for me to play Tarzan at this age was a sure way to
end up becoming a paraplegic. Seriously,
aside from the childhood fantasies—the actual reason why we were up on a tree
hut in the Wasgamuwa jungles was to observe and study elephants.
Observing wild elephants from a Tree Hut
can turn out to be a fascinating activity. Not too many things in life
come close to that experience. To have
an entire elephant herd feeding underneath while the tree hut swayed to a gentle
breeze with background music by various avian and forest fauna is a
life changing experience. There is a
real danger of getting addicted to it.
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| Studying a herd of elephants from the Tree Hut |
For a while we had been noticing that
the tree hut corridor was an unusual place mainly because both elephants and
people used it frequently throughout the year.
The more we visited the corridor the more we realized that we knew very
little about what went on when both elephants and people were in the same
place. Of course we had more than enough
information from second and third hand accounts. But we had very little primary information
from first hand observations. Over time
the idea that we should build tree hut observation posts in the corridor got
mooted as an activity to study the interactions of people and elephants. This was back in 2003 when we had just
completed erecting our second solar powered electric fence around the
Weheragalagama village.
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| Volunteers observing and taking down data from the Tree Hut |
Several tree huts were built at the
beginning. One we built across the Weheragalagama
Tank (reservoir) and found out that during the rainy season we could only
access it by boat. Over the years the
tree hut at the Tree Hut Corridor became our primary observation hut due to it
been located along the route that elephants moved between the Wasgamuwa
National Park and the Himibiliyakade Forest Reserve. The people who mostly traveled through the corridor belonged
to two villages that were located in the forest reserve adjacent to the buffer
zone of the national park. The elephants
of course ranged all over this region and were part of the large population of
elephants that inhabited the area known as the lower Mahweli River Basin.
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| The Tree Hut |
Until we started to conduct these
observations in 2003 we had very little understanding of the interactions of people and
elephants. The observations from the tree
hut definitely opened up an entirely different window that allowed us to get a
good understanding of how elephants behaved when people were around. Fortunately the corridor was used both by
bulls and large herds consisting mostly females and young. As time went by we gradually began to notice
the nuances and the different patterns of behaviors of bulls and cows in
response to various anthropogenic disturbances.
We’ve made some remarkably interesting
observations of elephants as well as people over the years from the tree hut. Cows and young, solitary bulls and/or groups
of bulls—I meant elephants not people—reacted to disturbances along the Tree Hut
Corridor very differently.
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| Observing a herd of elephants from the ground as they are crossing the road at the Crossing Point |
Female herds with
young when they were just about to emerge from the forest always rushed back
when they heard a human noise. We had also
noticed that female herds retreated only when they were just about to emerge
from the forest, but once the disturbance had moved away they soon returned
unless they had been really frightened off. It was ironical in a way how these
massive animals were so frightened of us puny humans. Another interesting
behavior was, once an entire herd was out in the open grassy woodland area any
number of tuk tuks or other vehicles and people could come along the road and
they will not move back to the forest. They would just stop whatever they
had been doing, bunched together and remained completely motionless and silent
behind tall grass or scrub until the disturbance had moved away. We have
observed tuk uks, cyclists and motorcyclists driving past herds of elephants
that were crowded together and hiding behind tall scrub and Mana grass just a
few feet away from the edge of the road. The drivers and passengers in these vehicles
just drove past quite oblivious that a herd of wild elephants were just a few
feet away! On some occasions a herd
would rush back to a safe distance and wait quietly until the disturbance had
moved off.
Bulls reacted somewhat differently.
While the occasional bull would charge or attempt to chase people and vehicles,
this did not happen frequently. Most bulls
tend to be laid back continuing to feed completely ignoring the people and
vehicles. Others would stand erect with heads
raised and ears spread looking towards the direction where the disturbance was
coming from or would slowly amble away into the jungle. If they were taken unawares then they would
trumpet piercingly turn tail and run.
Some would stop after a short distance and stare while others kept going
until they disappeared into the forest.
It seems elephants were startled and frightened by the sudden appearance
of people the same way people frightened each other.
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| A bull charging - most times these are mock charges...but whose waiting to find out! |
On one occasion three bulls were feeding
right across from the tree hut about 50 yards away when a land-master two wheel
tractor with a trailer loaded with men, women and children came chugging down
the road. These were farmers after
working in the fields heading back to their village before night fall. The
three bulls though did not pay any attention and nonchalantly kept feeding seemingly
oblivious to the tractor and it occupants.
The tractor driver though stopped
immediately when he saw us signaling that there were elephants across the road.
The driver and the passengers stood up and
peered to catch a glimpse of the elephants, but due to the tall Mana grass and
the short height of the tractor they could not possibly see them well. From the tree hut we gestured to the driver
to keep driving. He drove up to where we
were and then refused to go any further saying that without been able to see
the elephants he was not going to take the chance. Normally we would have escorted the tractor
with our field vehicle. But that day the
vehicle had dropped us off at the Tree Hut and gone on an errand. With dusk falling fast it was important for
the tractor to keep going while there was enough light to see the elephants.
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| The Land Master Tractor with agitated villagers |
While we were trying to convince the
driver to continue on another tractor appeared at the other end. That driver stopped immediately when he saw
us guessing rightly that there must be elephants around. In the meantime the women were imploring
us to help them to get to the other end of the road so they could get home
safely. Deciding fast, a villager who
happened to be with us and I climbed on to the tractor and went with them
hoping to get a ride back from the other tractor. Standing on the iron railings of the trailer
we kept an eye on the elephants. When
we got to the other side to our consternation the driver of the second tractor
refused to bring us back. Abandoning
wherever he was going and with total disregard to our situation he turned
around and followed the tractor we had traveled back to the village. Not expecting to be in such a dilemma, the
two of us stood on the middle of the road and stared at the receding vehicles
like two castaways watching a ship disappear over the horizon. I wondered what it would do to his Karma if
we were trampled by an elephant. Not
that that our Karma was in good shape either, considering
we had to now hoof it down the road passing by three bull elephants.
For a moment the villager and I, eyed each other wondering who will be the first to get pulverized by an elephant.
Shaking these macabre thoughts of our
minds we convinced each other that the elephants looked calm enough and likely won’t
bother us. Imbued by this false sense of
elephant human brotherhood and having no other choice we walked back towards
the Tree Hut. While they had completely ignored the tractor now all three bulls
had stopped feeding and were looking in our direction with raised heads, alertly
watching as we walked down the road. This
was another anomalous behavior, while most times bulls were not bothered by vehicles
or people on some occasions they were very alert to and vary of people moving
on foot. I wondered whether this had to
do with the distance that separated the people and elephants at any time.
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| Keeping a weary eye on the elephants we walked to the Tree Hut |
Mentally I calculated what our chances were
of reaching the Tree Hut if one or all of them decided to get to know us
personally. Our chances looked pretty
dismal. The road stretched straight like
a buff colored ribbon through Mana grass with no place to take refuge in case
of an attack. The few trees that were
there had trunks as straight as poplars seemingly to discourage people from
climbing them. With the three bulls
staring—the two of us walked down the road like two self-conscious village
damsels. Acting nonchalant we
walked down at an even pace keeping a vary eye on the elephants. The planets must have been in proper
alignment in our astrological charts and our Karma must have been better than anticipated because
we made it back to the Tree Hut without incident. What is closer to truth is contrary to
currently held beliefs elephants are not eager to step on people every
opportunity they get.
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| The road stretched along with no place to hide |
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| Bulls tend to ignore people most of the time |
How people reacted and behaved in the
presence of elephants was also part of our study but in all honesty observing
human behavior was more entertainment than science! I must profess that when people and elephants
were present in the corridor, the elephants behaved in a far more dignified
manner than people. Village men
inebriated to the high heavens were the worst.
Imbued by a false sense of bravado from the liquor these drunks’ attitude
was to tangle with the elephants. At
least David when he challenged Goliath had a sling shot! These idiots had only alcohol fumes. On many occasions we had transported such intoxicated
villagers to their homes fearing for their lives. No wonder then, that of the 80 odd people
that are killed annually by elephants the majority are drunks.
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| A motorcyclist riding by a herd hiding motionless behind scrub |
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A
belligerent drunk attempting to challenge the elephants!
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Another rowdy behavior we have been observing
lately was several pimped up tuk tuks that had taken to escorting convoys of small
Land Master tractors.
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| The ubiquitous and obnoxious Tuk Tuks |
These three
wheeled vehicles adorned with chrome fittings and equipped with strobe lights
and musical horns were such a rude and contrasting element that completely
ruined the sublimity of the forest environment.
At dusk they would race through the corridor with their lights flashing
and horns blaring, providing the vanguard to the much slower Land Master
tractors. Shattering the peace and
tranquility – they created a cacophony that was totally uncalled for and was
not effective at all if the intention was to chase away elephants. On all occasions when we had been present at
these displays of tuk tuk machismo—the elephants had either stood still quietly
behind a wall of scrub or had already withdrawn to the forest edge as soon as
they had heard the distant sounds of the approaching vehicles.
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| A Tuk Tuk with lights ablaze and horn blaring driving past a herd |
This is an issue we are now trying to address
through our education and awareness programs.
We intend to use footage of our observations to edify local villagers
how to behave when elephants were present in the corridor. Another plan that is been developed is to use
mobile phones to provide advanced notice to villagers when elephants were
present. This is to warn villagers who
have to travel through the corridor in advance so they could plan ahead to get
home safely.
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| A Tuk Tuk escorting a Land Master Tractor |
The elephant behaviors we observed from
the Tree Hut were not only very fascinating but obviously had implications to
understanding the dynamics of human elephant conflicts. Eventually we hope this information would
help us to improve our efforts to overcome the challenges of conserving elephants
in a rapidly changing world.
After the elephants had fed at the Tree
Hut Corridor they would head towards the gravel road to cross. After
crossing the road still feeding they would head towards the tank (reservoir)
that was located south of the tree hut.
It was a circuitous rather than a direct route and if plotted on a map would
show an arching line.
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| The elephants head to the tank through the Tree Hut Corridor - a massive bull on the left |
This was more or less their routine behavior.
But what was really interesting about this was that once they began their
move towards the reservoir nothing could stop them. This extraordinary
behavior we found out quite by accident.
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| A herd crossing the road to head to the tank in the far distance |
It was a beautiful afternoon in February 2012
and we were in the Tree Hut with a film crew from France 3 television channel filming
a herd of 35 elephants. With the light fading fast and the elephants
grouping to make their final move to the reservoir, I called up to the field
house and asked one of the staff to bring immediately the three British volunteers:
Emma, Gemma and Katherine who were staying with us at the time. After
completing their afternoon assignment they had just got back to the field house,
and there was nothing like completing the day with some elephant viewing from
the Tree Hut.
Sampath drove the vehicle slowly to
where the elephants were and stopped right in front of them. It was an
incongruously matched situation. The Land Rover had a canvass roof and was
opened on all sides and was no match for an enraged bull or for that matter
anything larger than a cow if it came to a head to head battle. But on a
side note: this particular Land Rover has had more than its fair share of
encounters with elephants and other natural hazards. It had always come unscathed from these
encounters with its occupants none the worse for their experiences. In
appreciation of its valiant nature, volunteers had named it Gloria. Once we
got surrounded by a raging grass fire inside the Wasgamuwa National Park set by
illegal cattle herders and poachers. We had no choice other than to keep
driving through that uncontrolled and rapacious conflagration. Even then Gloria had risen to the occasion and
managed to drive us to safety through a Hades invoking crackling wall of fire
and blinding smoke. Up to now Gloria had never failed us. Unfortunately Mahanama was not aware of the legendary
fortitude of Gloria.
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| Gloria the intrepid Land Rover |
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| The grass fire raging behind through which Gloria had driven us to safety |
When Sampath drove up to the herd and
stopped we did not know what to expect. Maybe they would move back? Or try a different route? The herd stood their ground and the massive bull trumpeted piercingly and
charged. Mahanama who was fast asleep in the back woke up when the bull charged
trumpeting. In his half awaken state he
saw a mass of elephants looking down on him from trunk touching distance and
one enraged colossus bearing down with all intent of making him part of the
body work of the car. As the bull charged from the side there was a loud
thud from the back, Sampath had immediately assumed that another elephant had
hit the vehicle from the rear. When he
had looked quickly behind expecting the worse it was Mahanama who had rolled
off the seat to the floor and was crying and moaning as he tried to crawl
underneath the seat. The poor fellow—just imagine waking up to a gauntlet
of angry elephants surrounding your bedside, with an enormous bull charging
with the very intent of pulverizing the vehicle and passengers into a morass.
Goldilocks’ experience with the three bears seemed like a picnic. From his position lying on the seat the bull must
have looked like the Titanic bearing down on him! Instinctively he had dived to
the floor hoping to creep underneath the seat. Unfortunately Land Rover
seats are not made for creeping under by elephant fearing people.
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| Sampath and Gloria stopped in front of the herd |
“Sampath! What are you trying to do?”
Mahanama had shrieked.
“I’m trying to block the elephants from
crossing the road,” Sampath had replied.
“Block the elephants! Oh my God you people
are crazy! Mahanama had yelled and then shouted, “Buddhu Ammey (Enlightened Mother) please help me to get out of this
alive.”
Curled up on the floor, Mahanama had lamented
why he ever undertook this job, wailing that he was not even married, now he
will die a bachelor and not live to see his progeny. On the day he left with the film crew he gave
a solemn promise that he would quit his job if they ever assigned him to
another film crew that planned to visit our project. We of course were amazed by his attitude
because we genuinely liked him very much and wanted him to come back.
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| Mahanama's view of the bull elephant...Wake up little Suzi...Wake up |
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| Mahanama on left with volunteer Gene during happier times |
After his initial show of rage which was
matched by the stoic Gloria the bull stepped back to the herd. Bunched
together, they glared at the vehicle making disparaging noises. Since all that glaring did not make the
annoying vehicle go away so they attempted to cross the road from the front and
back of it.
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| The bull charging the vehicle |
Every time they attempted to cross either
from the back or the front of the vehicle, Sampath would thwart their efforts
by reversing or going forward, while in the back Mahanama lying on the floor
bemoaned his fate. Yet his fears had not
stopped him from narrating about an elephant that visited his village in the
south and had the habit of biting people.
The big bull with raised trunk showing off his cavernous maw and
corrugated molars would have been a disquieting reminder about the people
munching rabid pachyderm back home.
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| Probably what reminded Mahanama of the people biting elephant |
From the tree hut it looked like Gloria
and the elephants were doing some mid-western square dance in right
angles. When the elephants attempted to
cross in front Sampath drove Gloria forward and they would step back and then
try to cross from the back. Sampath would
reverse and the elephants would move back, stand and wait for a moment and try
to cross again from the front. This went
on for a while until the sun had practically sunk out of sight and there was
only the diffused ambient light. After a little bit more of this back
and forth tangoing I called Sampath and asked him to come back to the Tree Hut.
It was an interesting observation, because we had expected them to either
move back and tried a different route or to do some real damage to the vehicle.
They had not done any of that other than
to just stand exactly where they wanted to cross the road making rumbling and
pipsqueak noises. Some had their trunks tucked into their mouths. Surprisingly they had made no attempt to
annihilate the vehicle and the occupants along with it.
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| Standing by Mahanama's bedside |
The bull had initially acted as if he
had every intention of pulverizing the vehicle. But when he realized that
the vehicle and its occupants were clamoring to get pulverized—not Mahanama though
obviously—the bull had given up the idea and stood placidly with the herd.
I have a suspicion that elephants practiced reverse psychology. The
bull after that initial effort made no further attempts to smash the vehicle
into the road.
I was glad that we had a film crew with
us during this incident. This was behavior that needed to be captured on
film. The footage would also be a big help to convince relevant
authorities how important it is to protect corridors and crossing points that
elephants used as part of their natural ranging. Being highly intelligent
animals the elephants could have easily taken a different route effectively
bypassing the vehicle to go where they wanted too. A lesser species would
have done just that. But these elephants
had showed an innate inability or a marked lack of wanting to take such an
initiative. They had steadfastly stood their ground at the exact point
from where they always crossed the road.
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| We are not moving until you do... |
The implications of these
observations show that elephant corridors need not be as big meaning area wise. The currently held belief is that large swaths of
land need to be put aside as corridors to connect existing protected areas to
provide room for elephants to range naturally. Our observations show that to
provide connectivity the critical points need not be as large as it had been envisioned.
Apparently elephants show a high fidelity to the crossing points from which
they transfer from one part of their range to another, especially where roads
had bisected their range and created edge effects. If these points and
the land on either side can be safeguarded then they are able to range as they
need. It will also to a large degree prevent conflicts with people.
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| Get off the road! |
This behavior probably sheds light as to
why elephants fall victim to trains. When they are at a crossing point
waiting to cross it seems they take affront to any effort to obstruct their
intentions and are incapable of backing off or even moving away to cross from a
different place. This could be one of
the reasons why elephants get hit by trains. Probably these casualties could be drastically
reduced if an effort is made to identify these points and have the railways
impose a regulation for trains to travel at a slow speed until they have passed
these sections. A long term practical
solution would be to elevate the train tracks on to trestles along these
sections leaving room for elephants to cross from underneath. I doubt this would happen any time soon
though unless private funds can be found to initiate such an effort.
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| An elephant hit by a train |
The SLWCS had over the years attempted
to map some of these corridors and crossing points but it had been an uphill task.
To do such a project it needs a lot of resources such as GPS units, GIS
software, powerful computers and skilled personnel. Recently we made an
effort to safeguard several such crossing points which were on privately owned
land. The idea was to purchase these lands and transfer them to a land
trust. Unfortunately the funding we were expecting did
not come through and the project had to be put on the back burner. While
there is global consensus on the importance of corridors to maintain wildlife
movement, gene flow and connectivity of ecosystems when it comes to
establishing elephant corridors there are very few backers. The irony is
that conservation measures developed to save the elephant will automatically
provide protection to hundreds of other species. Yet funding for such
projects are extremely difficult to obtain.
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| Corridors and Crossing Points are vital for elephants to range freely |
The observations we continue to make
from the Tree Hut Corridor is a great insight into elephant behavior and interactions
between people and elephants to understand human-elephant conflicts. They
offer us a different perspective as well as help to identify some of the
elements that contribute to conflicts.
Hopefully these observations will help us to improve the measures we have implemented to mitigate conflicts for the long term conservation of the elephant.
One of the clearest observations is how elephants tend to move through
the same area or for that matter use the same route irrespective of
disturbances to get to water and food. When villagers or government officials
with no knowledge about the habits of elephants attempt to develop these areas,
they are basically setting up for conflicts. Even this corridor which
through our efforts had become safe for people and elephants was not spared.
Recently the local Provincial Council decided to concrete an entire
section of the road that cuts across the corridor which was totally
unnecessary. Through discussion with the contractor we managed to get
them to keep the disturbance to a minimum.
As we continue these observations helped
by our international volunteers our knowledge and awareness is bound to
increase, which in turn will translate into effective conservation efforts to
save the endangered Sri Lankan elephant.
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| Gloria underneath the Tree Hut |
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