Our story begins at the foothills of eastern Himalaya, in a tightly packed landscape known as the “Chicken Neck of India’ where wild Asian elephants once roamed freely through dense forests and jungles, rich with nourishing food and water.
Out from the trees across the field rises a noise I have only heard in movies and dreams: the resounding trumpet of an elephant. From a patch of trees directly to our right, another elephant responds with an earth-shaking full bellow roar, accompanied by a steady and thunderous rumble that rattles me to my core.
Once upon a time, a little boy dreamt of being an astronaut, then Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, and from there Han Solo, commanding the Millennium Falcon.
Elephants, horses, camels, elephants, oxen, dogs, mules… From the dawn of time, humans and certain animals have developed a complex synergy, a reliance on one another that has, at its root, the meeting of both of our most basic needs: food and shelter. A delicate balance of co-existence—in many cases fraught with domination and cruelty, and in countless relationships an exchange of deep love and affection, often times both.
With their natural habitats dwindling, the elephants are changing their migration patterns to feed on what is now their most reliable food source: cultivated crops. In small villages and tea gardens throughout their ancient migration route, crop season has become a mealtime calling card for elephant herds.
Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus.
