A sudden thud, followed by a loud shriek. It seemed that someone had just emptied their lungs out. Within seconds, a scared but curious crowd had gathered around the assembly that was an evening routine in Tiken’s courtyard. Maybe, a leopard had taken a goat. A predator inside the village was common in this part of Assam. Tiken, taking the lead, four of us took our torches and carefully headed towards the direction of the commotion. We dared not switch on our lights as long as the moonlight was showing the trail to the open fields from Tiken’s backyard. It had been raining on and off for the past week, but the puddles and the mud splashes were the least of our priorities. Slowly walking at close distances and trying to maintain our balance on the shifting soil, we had finally reached the perimeter of the backyard. Without foliage over our heads, it now got easier to scan around. It was a dark night and the only sounds that pinched the silence were the bullfrogs that had come out of hibernation.

Elephant signs near hanging fences in Borpathor Village, Assam, Photo by: Madhumay Mallik

A leopard would have long gone by now. But, there could be other reasons to the commotion.

Across the fields were the hanging solar-powered fences that protected the village from the regular elephant attacks. Located at the fringes of the Manas National Park, Borpathor was a village that used to witness a high incidence of human-elephant conflicts. The elephants are around even today but these fences make sure that they stop the moment they try to cross over to the fields. It was likely that this was the case this evening too.

Tiken was a member of the Baba Bandhu team, a volunteer group from the village that monitors and maintains these solar fences. Installed since 2019, with support from Chester Zoo, the Bodoland Territorial Council and the Assam Forest Department, the case of elephants entering the village has gone down to almost zero now. Farmers who would regularly lose their harvest to elephant raids can now sleep in peace. Before the fences, elephants inside the village would even mean people losing their property and many a time, these conflicts have also resulted in the human deaths. Naturally, the locals wanted the elephants gone for good and altercations meant use of weapons and hand-made bombs to frighten or even kill the jumbos.

Barpathor Village on the forest fringes, Photo by Nazrul Islam

The shock from the solar-powered fence is not fatal to elephants but it has been deterrent enough to make them turn back into the forest. However, it was a good idea to check if one of them was still hanging around. Being highly intelligent, elephants have been known to come up with unique solutions. In the past, they have tried breaking the fence poles by dropping down tree trunks. An aggressive elephant can be very hard to manage. The only solution would be to stay alert. Passing on this crucial information to the villagers is also what the Baba Bondhu group does to manage possible conflict situations.

As we walked along the fence line, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It would have been exciting to see a wild elephant up close but it would also be heartbreaking if the situation aggravated more than necessary. We kept on flicking our torch beams to find out any kind of sign. On our way, Tiken pointed out the exact place where a herd tried to break in, a week earlier. Broken branches, dung piles, and scratches on the mud were sure signs of a well-thought-out strategy. Thankfully, the Baba Bondhu team had taken cognizance and were able to drive the elephants back in time.

Team Baba Bandhu examining elephant signs_Photo by: Madhumay Mallik

We took a breather after walking two kilometers. Drenched in sweat, we had now turned into mobile feeding grounds for dozens of moths. We hadn’t even realized that there would also be leeches who got untimely snacks! But, this is what working in the field is all about. For long, I had missed this feeling, this silence under the dark sky and the smell of the grass and mud. We walked back at a faster pace knowing that everything was under control today.

WTI’s “Assam Haathi Project” team has been working with local communities to reduce human-elephant conflicts since 2017. It forms a component of WTI’s Greater Manas Recovery Project that has been running for about 2 decades now. While a 24 kilometers of solar powered fence protects 123 fringe villages in the southern boundary of the Manas National Park, the project team also works with locals by working on alternative livelihood practices and reducing their dependence on the forest. Over the years, the team has engaged locals in reviving the traditional weaving practices, reduced the demand for fuelwood by encouraging improved cook stove and LPG usage, lemon plantations as bio-fencing, and much more. Today, 42 villages and 8000 households stand in support of an effort that hopes to ensure that humans and elephants coexist in a landscape that is resource-rich and supports a diversity that makes Manas a biodiversity hotspot. It was WTI’s efforts that earned back Manas, its UNESCO World Heritage Site tag in 2011. The project aims to sustain the ongoing initiatives of habitat improvement, habitat restoration, weaning forest dependency, and phased species restocking to improve ecosystem functionality.

1Village Eco-Development Committee (EDC) meeting at Borpathor, Photo by Madhumay Mallik

With a whole community by our side, walking the elephant’s trail is so much easier. After all, without the elephants, there would be no forests and without a forest, nothing would be the same.

Madhumay Mallik is passionate about photography, travel, and documenting his exploits, not necessarily in that order. He is an enthusiastic member of our Communications team, raring to travel and document stories from our field projects.