We hadn’t even made it to the national park, when we saw an elephant making its way through the roadside trees.
“We see them a lot here” our guide Dhanoushka told us. “But this can cause problems. Humans and elephants are still learning to live together in Sri Lanka”.
I was on a ten-day trip around the island nation, mainly to see its lesser-visited north and learn about its Tamil heritage and how it’s rebuilding after a devastating Civil War.
But our trip was a little like a microcosm for life in Sri Lanka. Whatever you do is intertwined with its elephant population.
Sri Lankan elephants
It’s thought that Sri Lankan elephants crossed over from India sometime in the last ice age, when Adam’s Bridge – which sits on the Mannar Peninsula – connected the island to Rameswaram, an Indian island which was in turn connected to the mainland.
Humans and elephants have had a complex relationship since they both inhabited the island. Pre-colonialism, elephants were seen as a status symbol and were used in courts. After European settlers arrived, swathes of elephant territory were cleared for plantations, which decimated the population. Plus, British colonialists had a fondness for trophy hunting, and elephants became their tragic targets.
Post-colonialism, Sri Lanka has developed – a positive step for the country as a whole, but it has interrupted elephant’s habitats even more. The Human Elephant Conflict sees around 300 elephants and 70 people dying each year due to conflict – elphants raid farms, and farmers use sometimes fatal methods to protect their land.
It’s crucial to remember that most farmers are living hand-to-mouth, and the destruction of their crops could be financially devastating for them, possibly leaving them unable to feed their families.
At the same time, elephants are intelligent creatures who can live to be 50 or more years old and are vital to the ecosystem – and they deserve to be treated with respect and not have their habitat destroyed.
But how we strike this balance, when elephants need vast migratory corridors and humans need ever expanding space?
Elephant corridors
One of the proposed ideas by the 2024-elected government is to make use of “Elephant Corridors”. These are passages of land that remain undisturbed, that elephants can make use of to cross the island.
The only one that has been established so far is the Wetahirakanda corridor, which connects Udawalawe National Park and Lunugamvehera National Park. However, it’s not all that effective – actually enticing the elephants to use such corridors is another battle, and SciDev has deemed the plan “unscientific” due to the fact that elephants are not usually migratory.
National parks and protected areas
Protected areas have had more impact. There are over 500 protected areas in the country, and over 26% of the landmass sits in one.
Protected areas combat deforestation and protect elephants – but this does mean that humans can only settle in less than 75% of the country.
But tourism is demonstrating more benefits of protecting elephants, too. Tourism is a huge part of Sri Lanka’s economy, with backpackers, honeymooners and families all flocking to the island throughout the decades (even during the civil war). The tourism poster child? Sri Lankan elephants.
“Tourists will pay to see elephants” Dhanoushka explained. “And most Sri Lankans, especially out the cities, know all about elephants. When to see them and their behaviour. So elephant tourism is really important to Sri Lanka”.
As more tourists visit, the “elephant economy” increrases – and more interest in learning to live with elephants grows.
In Hurulu Eco Park, we experienced this first-hand as we hired a jeep driver and chatted to rangers, all employed by the park, and drove around looking for elephants. “She’s pregnant” our guide said, pointing to the first creature we spotted. “They’re pregnant for 22 months”.
That’s not to say that the national parks are a perfect solution. “Elephants can get stressed” Dhanoshka told us. “We’re in jeeps, so we’re safe, but we need to think of the elphant’s mental state. The quieter parks are ok, but Yala National Park in peak season can become very crowded”.
As he spoke, we gently pulled away from a mother and child elephant – apparently, she’d let us know she no longer wanted us to be there.
An abundant Sri Lanka boosts all
It’s not just locals who are directly involved in elephant tourism who benefit. We visited Hiriwadunna traditional village, where tourists can learn about Sri Lankan rural life with a boat tour, ride on a bullock cart, mouthwatering local lunch and mini cooking lesson.
A watch towers loomed above us as we disembarked from the cart. “That’s where we keep watch for elephants” our driver told us. “It’s a big problem if they can get to the crops”.
That said, nowadays an electric fence has been erected along the perimeter of the farm. “It doesn’t hurt the elephants at all” we were told. “But they learn that this isn’t a place to come for food”.
And as the economy changes, those living in rural areas may also become less dependent on farming. “I’m still a farmer”, our driver told us. “But I also work with tourists. My income is better now”.
Sri Lanka has ambitious aims for the growth of its tourist sector, along with the goal to protect both humans and elephants in the Human Elephant Conflict. Tourism intertwines with this – and by visiting Sri Lanka and spending money in the right places, it can have real benefits to elephants, to people, and to all of Sri Lanka.
