Ravi Corea
It was June 2006 and I was with a field team in the Wasgamuwa National
Park scouting out new locations to conduct road transects. We had
just winched ourselves across the Kalu Ganga River, made an offering
of a tender tree branch to the local jungle deities and were heading
into the more dense jungles located in the northwestern part of the
park. The time is about 5 pm. As the Primary Investigator (PI) of
the Communities, Elephants and Elusive Leopards Project, I'm leading a
team from our first Earthwatch volunteers. We are in two Land Rovers
and with me are three Earthwatch volunteers. The volunteers are split
into teams of three each and rotated through several research and
conservation activities under the supervision of the PI, Co-PIs and
Research Assistants. Today with me are Pascal Bourgoen and
Anne-Christine Procope from France and Taslima Tisha from Bangladesh
along with some of our field Research Assistants who are all locally
recruited and trained youth. The track we were on winds through
dense intermediate zone forests which have low visibility mainly due
to the thick overhead canopy blocking out the sun very effectively
creating a shadowy green tunnel. As we were rounding a bend in the
track, the leading Land Rover Defender that I was in was brought to an
abrupt stop by a large tree that had fallen across. Co-PI, Chandeep
was driving and he pulled to the side of the narrow jungle track and
stopped to make room for the Game Guard, Ranesinghe to get off to
assess the situation. As Ranesinghe was walking towards the fallen
tree, even with the diesel engine on, I heard the elephant—it was a
low stomach rumble. I turned and gestured to Chandeep to knock off
the engine and he immediately turned off the engine and we both heard
the elephant very clearly now. It was a loud huffing or air releasing
kind of noise that elephants make when they are distressed, excited,
or surprised. From the sound we knew that it was very close by but
because of the dense jungle we could not see it. Ranesinghe was
clearly oblivious to the fact that there was an elephant nearby and
was still calmly walking toward the fallen tree. I quickly got off
the vehicle and in a low hushed voice asked Ranesinghe to come back to
the car. Having not heard or felt the presence of the elephant yet,
Raneshinge turned around to ask me why? I whispered as loudly as I
could that there was an elephant quite close by and for him to come
back to the Defender immediately. Not quite convinced, Ranesinghe
started to walk towards the car hesitatingly. The elephant again made
the huffing noise, which this time Ranesinghe too heard very clearly.
He immediately started to run towards the car when an ear-piercing
trumpet rent the air. It seems like all hell broke loose then.
Elephants were screaming and trumpeting from both sides of the track
and we were stuck right in the middle!
My first concern was to make sure everyone was inside the vehicles and
the engines were switched off. Ranesinghe and I squatted on the track
by the side of our car and tried to get a visual of the elephants
through the trees. From the deep rumblings we were hearing we knew
they were close by, but was very difficult to catch a glimpse of them.
Finally we caught site of them. There was a mass of elephants all
alertly looking towards our direction with their trunks extended and
ears fanned out. I could see several small calves all with their
backs tucked underneath their mother's tummies or forelegs.
We had come exactly at a time when the herd was crossing the track.
Two elephants had already crossed and it was them that we heard the
first time. With a piercing scream one of them now ran across the
track from behind us to join the herd.
We kept quite and after a few minutes we could hear the herd moving
towards the track. Suddenly with a rush the whole herd crossed the
track from behind us bunched up together as they do when their
frightened. An adolescent male bringing up the rear chickened out at
the last minute and retreated back with a scream and we could glimpse
him through the trees. We could hear the herd rumbling once again
from the other side where they had joined up with the one that had
remained on that side. We continued to keep quite and in a little
while the adolescent male got enough courage to rush across the track
and join up with the herd. And then immediately we herd them all
moving very fast into the forest until we could not hear them anymore.
The herd we came across was on their way out of the park. As the
evening start to fall some lone bulls as well as some herds move out
of the park and go into forests, grasslands, and reservoirs bordering
village settlements or as frequently the case is, go raiding village
fields and homes. Our research at Wasgamuwa is showing that during
certain times of the year there are many more elephants outside the
park than inside. In the context of this finding not only just our
research efforts but also our efforts to resolve human elephant
conflicts, community development and capacity building becomes
critical to establish benchmarks to conserve the endangered Sri Lankan
elephant amidst a rapidly growing human population, their aspirations
and needs and shrinking elephant habitats.
One way we are achieving our goals to resolve conflicts is by erecting
solar powered electric fences around villages and their fields to keep
elephants "OUT" from certain areas and leave other areas outside the
park open for them to range. This is quite the opposite approach to
what has been practiced by the government authorities, which is to put
electric fences around national parks to keep elephants "IN" forcibly.
This approach obviously has not really worked out at Wasgamuwa
because as our research is showing there is populations of elephants
that live outside the park right throughout and these elephants will
never stay inside the park however much the authorities chase them
into the park and put electric fences around it. We are constantly
trying out new ideas and concepts to reduce conflicts between humans
and elephants and to create a win-win situation for both. It is
crucial for our efforts to have the support and participation of
Earthwatch volunteers to help us conduct these projects and programs
successfully.
The elephant is not just another wild animal to Sri Lankans. The
elephant is an inherent artifact of Sri Lanka's culture, religion and
folklore. At the turn of the last century there were at least 12,000
elephants in Sri Lanka. Currently there is supposed to be about
3000-4000 wild elephants. This drastic drop is mainly because since
the past six decades the unplanned clearing of forests for agriculture
has led to a problem of resource sharing between man and elephant
resulting in intense human elephant conflicts (HEC).
Today one of the biggest environmental concerns in Sri Lanka is HEC.
For the past 12 years annually on average 150-200 elephants and about
50 people have lost their lives due to HEC. These are recorded
incidents. The actual figures may be much higher.
Wasgamuwa is one of the areas that suffer intensely from HEC. Since
1997, the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society has been actively
involved in searching for practical and cost-effective solutions to
this problem. We have a holistic approach to this problem where we
look at issues dealing with humans as well as elephants. As part of
our overall conservation efforts we also address concerns such as
education, poverty and gender issues, developing sustainable
livelihoods, capacity building and creating awareness among the
villages. The name of our main project "Saving Elephants by Helping
People (SEHP)" clearly underlines and guides the work we have been
doing in this area for the past nine years.
