Nepal’s Chitwan Elephant and Tourism Festival draws crowds and full hotels, but activists say contests and games exploit captive elephants, renewing calls for ethical tourism and sanctuary-based care.
Nepal is wrapping up the 19th Chitwan Elephant and Tourism Festival today (Sunday) with traditional worship and a special feast for the participating elephants, even as the event continues to spark debate over animal welfare and ethical tourism.
The three-day festival, held at the Baghmara ground in Sauraha, a major gateway to Chitwan National Park, features around 80 captive elephants owned by government agencies and private operators. On the final day, elephants are worshipped as sacred beings in keeping with long-standing cultural traditions, followed by a specially arranged buffet-style feast. According to festival coordinator and tourism entrepreneur Gunaraj Thapaliya, the elephants are served their favorite foods and allowed to eat freely.
Throughout the festival, a range of entertainment activities has been organized, including elephant beauty contests, boat races, rallies, football penalty shootouts and other games. Responding to interest from domestic and international tourists, organizers also showcased a glimpse of the world-famous elephant polo on Saturday, though the full game could not be conducted. Thapaliya said spectators and visitors were enthusiastic despite the limited display.
Hotels in Sauraha have reported full occupancy over the past two days, reflecting the festival’s popularity among visitors. Organized annually in late December, the event is patronized by Ratnanagar Municipality and co-organized by the United Elephant Operation Cooperatives Society Limited. Tourism entrepreneurs describe the festival, now in its 19th edition, as vital for reviving tourism and supporting local livelihoods in Nepal’s prime wildlife destination.
“These events are organized to promote tourism and are completely free for the public,” Thapaliya said. He added that elephants are monitored by veterinarians and handled under existing laws. Rejecting allegations of cruelty, he described such claims as “foreign-influenced narratives” aimed at damaging Chitwan’s tourism image. “We love our elephants more than anyone else. We have invested millions to raise and maintain them and any misuse would directly harm our own livelihoods,” he said.
Animal rights activists, however, strongly contest this narrative. Shristi Singh Shrestha, an animal rights advocate, called captive elephant tourism an outdated and inhumane system that prioritizes entertainment over welfare. She argues that presenting elephants in games, rallies and beauty contests normalizes exploitation in the name of culture and tourism.
“From birth to death, captive elephants are subjected to harsh training regimes. What is presented as entertainment masks a deeper reality of suffering,” she said. Shrestha pointed to the widespread practice of phajaan, a process used across South Asia to train young elephants through isolation, intimidation and physical force. The term, originating from Thailand, literally means to “break the spirit.”
According to activists, visible scars behind elephants’ ears from sharp hooks, routine chaining and fear-based training methods are evidence of systemic abuse. “Football games and beauty pageants are a circus, not culture,” Shrestha said, adding that such practices have no basis in conservation.
Nepal currently has around 150 captive elephants, though only 67 are officially registered with the government as required by law. About 50 government-owned elephants are kept in hattisar (elephant sheds), mainly in Chitwan National Park and Bardiya National Park. These elephants are used for wildlife safaris, tiger and rhino censuses and occasionally disaster rescue operations.
Activists argue that even government use of elephants should be gradually phased out, as modern technologies, including drones and artificial intelligence, can now be used for wildlife monitoring, censuses and disaster response. They advocate for sanctuary-based models where elephants live in near-natural habitats with minimal human control, supported jointly by the state and private owners. Under such models, tourists could still generate income by observing elephants without disturbing them.
Many captive elephants in Nepal, activists say, were brought from neighboring India until recent years, with an increase during the Covid-19 period when security along the porous Nepal-India border was weak. Others are descendants of elephants captured decades ago.
Thapaliya counters that human-elephant relations are deeply rooted in Nepal’s history, from royal hunts to modern tourism and says comparisons with foreign practices are often unfair. “If enjoying animal rides is wrong, why do such events still exist elsewhere?” he asked.
Ahead of this year’s festival, 27 animal rights organizations formally petitioned authorities to reconsider the event. The groups argued that training elephants for sports competitions, rallies and decorative displays is inherently unnatural and stressful, causing long-term physical and psychological harm. They urged a shift toward conservation-focused, ethical tourism that respects elephants’ natural behavior.
Animal rights groups had previously succeeded in halting elephant gaming events for four years, until their resumption in 2024. Welfare advocates stress that elephants are highly social animals that live in matriarchal family groups, travel long distances daily and form deep emotional bonds. In captivity, they argue, these social structures are broken early through coercive training, leaving lasting emotional and behavioral scars.
As the festival concludes, the debate remains unresolved. For tourism operators, the event symbolizes cultural heritage and economic survival. For activists, it highlights the urgent need to rethink how Nepal balances tradition, tourism and animal welfare in a changing world.
