Elephants re-colonise Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, helped by the local community

After more than a century, elephants have returned to the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. Now, groups of men from 15 villages of are being trained to give them safe passage

“There were no elephants in these forests for over 100 years,” says Anshuman Shah, Head naturalist at Samode Safari Lodge in Bandhavgarh Tiger Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. The first herd — around 15 to 20— was spotted in the tiger landscape, in 2018. “Initially it looked like a part of elephant movement along the tiger corridor, but the herd is back and is living here now,” says Shah.   

Head of the Elephant Corridor Project at WTI (Wildlife Trust of India), Upasana Ganguly says, “Though herds move through elephant corridors, they have started exploring new routes like this Chhattisgarh-to-Bandhavgarh one. We have started an initiative, Haathi Mitra Dal, with Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and the local community to train members, local responders and frontline forest workers to give safe passage to the new entrants to this area as well as ensure the community’s safety.”

In April 2022, a wild elephant strayed into Rusa Mal village in Dindori, a part of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and destroyed some of the huts. The area, inhabited by the Baiga tribes, has jackfruit trees. The river Son flows through and the tribals make Mahua (local liquor), all these attract the elephant,” says Pushpendra Dwivedi, a journalist-turned-wildlife field expert who uses “chilli balls and rassi (rope) bombs” to steer the pachyderm out.

Pushpendra , who has innovated the rassi bomb explains, “the smoke from chilli balls and the vibrations of the rassi bomb confuse the elephants. We then used mashal or fire torch to guide them back to the forest. Pushpendra got involved with the Forest Department and joined them unofficially in 2009, while covering an incidence of man-animal conflict in which two tiger cubs had killed and devoured three villagers in the area. An advocate and an honorary Wildlife Warden, his study subject is ‘Conflict Mitigation.’

As part of WTI, he is now readying the Haathi Mitra Dals or Friends of Elephants groups in 15 villages in the Bandhavgarh Sanctuary. “The groups will consist of five able-bodied young men from each village, who will be trained to minimize any negative interactions and foster co-existence,” he says.

The MP Forest department has been proactive in this regard and organized a workshop, inviting experts from other elephant ranges to share their ideas on this new challenge. Sudhir Misha, Assistant Director, Bandhavgarh Tiger Sanctuary, says that they see this new phenomenon as part of the ecosystem, “Our response has been quick. Each range has its team; our patrolling vehicle alerts us on any elephant movement near a village and a team reaches out. We also have information sharing groups.”

Traditionally known for its population of Royal Bengal Tigers, the sanctuary is a biodiverse park that includes species such as leopards and deer. It has four tiger corridors, a core area (700 plus square kilometre) with dense forests and the buffer area (822 square kilometres) with a mix of human habitation. The biggest challenge being faced by the changed scenario is the local community’s unfamiliarity with elephants.