The 14th edition of the annual elephant festival kicked off in Nepal's third popular tourism destination Chitwan on Tuesday with the participation of over 50 elephants.The five-day event, organised by the Regional Hotel Association of Sauraha in Chitwan National Park, was inaugurated by Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
<img title="Elephant festival in Nepal" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/nov/asian-elephant.jpg" alt="Elephant festival in Nepal" width="670" height="523" />Representational Picture
The annual fiesta aims to bring humans closer to elephants, encourage wildlife protection and conservation and promote tourism in the region. "We have been organising this festival to enhance human-wildlife relations by engaging them in sports and fun and to promote tourism of Chitwan," festival coordinator Suman Ghimire told Xinhua news agency over phone.
The festival will showcase elephant walk, elephant football, elephant bath, elephant beauty contest and elephant picnic, among others. Chitwan National Park is enriched with abundance of wildlife and flora and fauna where elephant safari is one of the major attractions.Besides the elephant adventures, the festival will also feature cultural procession, ethnic dances and musical programmes with stalls of variety of local foods. The fiesta will conclude on December 30.
Though Chitwan is a pioneer hub for elephant adventure, tourism entrepreneurs often claim that it still lacks tourists as compared to other tourism destinations in the country like Kathmandu and Pokhara."Around 800,000 foreign tourists visit Nepal annually, but unfortunately Chitwan receives only 25 per cent of them. We believe such festivals will attract more foreign tourists to wildlife adventure," said Keshav Pandey, director at Green Park Chitwan resort.
<a href="http://www.mid-day.com/mumbai">Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, current affairs from Mumbai, local news, crime news and breaking headlines here</a>
Download the new mid-day <a title="mid-day android app " href="https://goo.gl/8Xlcvr" target="_blank">Android</a> and <a title="mid-day iOS app" href="https://goo.gl/KQziH4" target="_blank">iOS</a> apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go

The annual fiesta aims to bring humans closer to elephants, encourage wildlife protection and conservation and promote tourism in the region

Nepal hosts elephant festival in tourism hub Chitwan

Mamata Banerjee reaches Sagar Island to review Gangasagar Mela preparations

The annual fiesta aims to bring humans closer to elephants, encourage wildlife protection and conservation and promote tourism in the region

Nepal hosts elephant festival in tourism hub Chitwan

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Home / News / India News / Article / Nepal hosts elephant festival in tourism hub Chitwan

Nepal hosts elephant festival in tourism hub Chitwan

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast