Valparai plateau gives way for elephants as annual migration season is nearing its peak

Residents, Forest Dept & NGOs in Valparai prepare for elephant migration season. 100 elephants currently moving in plantations, expected to increase in Jan-Feb. Human deaths due to elephant attack rare since June 2021. NCF sends alerts via SMS & warning lights. Forest Dept monitors movement & created youth groups to share info. Awareness created by Dept helps reduce negative interactions. People now give space to elephants.

With the annual migration season of elephants nearing its peak in the Valparai plateau, the Forest Department, non governmental organisations like the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and residents of the hill station are all prepared to ensure free movement of the pachyderms.

At present, nearly 100 elephants are moving along plantation areas in the plateau, which include tea, coffee and cardamom estates, swamps, abandoned fields, eucalyptus patches and forest fragments inside estates. The number is expected to increase when the migration peaks between January and February.

Accustomed to the annual migration of elephants from the Kerala side, residents of the plateau and estate workers have learnt the way to avoid negative interactions between the large herbivores.

According to the Forest Department, the last human death due to elephant attack in the plateau was reported in June 2021.

The migration of elephants from the Kerala side starts in September and Valparai’s mosaic landscape of estates and fragmented forest patches serves as key habitats for them. The migration ends by March.

A lot of factors, including rain, availability of grass and people’s behaviour towards elephants, influence their migration movement, said Ganesh Raghunathan, Senior Programme Manager with NCF, which has been documenting elephant migration in the Valparai plateau since 2002.

“A team of three people visit plantation areas and collect the numbers of elephants on a daily basis as part of NCF’s ongoing study. Alerts on elephant movement are sent to people based on these data,” he said.