The gathering ..... (of elephants) at Minneriya Park
 

BY SRILAL Miththapala

I could not but held add a few postscripts to Gehan de Silva Wijeratne's recent article of "The Gathering". There is no question that this is one of the most remarkable, unusual and wonderful natural events that enfolds each year during this time around the Minneriya area.

However, due to the popularity of this 'event', the Minneriya Park attracts an unusually large number of visitors, which the authorities sometimes cannot cope with. It is a common knowledge that the park is understaffed with trackers, and quite often one sees a single tracker leading a group of about 3-4 jeeps.

Given the fact that most of the sightings are in the open plains surrounding the shores of the Minneriya Tank, errant jeep drivers often drive haphazardly all over the place, jostling to give their clients a better view of the elephants.

Without proper tracker guidance, sometimes these jeeps get too close to comfort, and upset the elephants' tranquillity, leading to the occasional altercation.

Last weekend, I thought of viewing the 'Gathering' myself once again, and experience some of the issues first hand.

Being a Saturday, there was a large group of visitors wanting to get into the park with the usual shortage of trackers. I was allowed in without a tracker at all, partly perhaps due to the fact that I am some what known in the elephant` fraternity.

However, I do not consider this as qualification, nor something to be proud of. I would have been much happier and more at ease if a tracker accompanied me.

I always believe that however much one gets to known about elephants, they are still basically wild animals, and those who interact with them regularly in the park know best.

Anyway, without a tracker the jeep driver and I drove down to the open 'Wav - pitiya' and we soon found that the great 'gathering' had decided to perhaps take a break that evening! There wasn't an elephant in sight!

After driving for over half an hour, and we finally came across two herds of about 45-50 in total, with a good mix of infants, juveniles, adolescents and adults. There were a couple of full-grown males in tow, but none of the budding tuskers were in sight, nor was there the abundance of elephants normally seen.

The sad part of the episode was to find that ratio of elephants to jeep was about 2:1, with over 20 jeeps converging around these pocked small herds. I must admit that on that day most of the visitors seemed to be fairly well behaved, with only two jeeps having a group boisterous of youngsters, after one too many drinks.

I was happy to see their tracker admonishing them to keep their voice low and threatening to drive off, if they did not behave themselves.

The wildlife park authorities should therefore look into this problem of over-visitation as a priority, within the next few weeks, when the 'Gathering' peaks.

There should be, I think, a maximum limit of the number of vehicles allowed into the park at any given time during the peak hours from 4-6 in the evening.

In this manner, a proper balance can be maintained, allowing the animals' freedom to move to the water without hindrance, while at the same time, allowing the visitors an opportunity to view one of the most remarkable sights of nature.