Jungle safaris just got more exciting!

June 12: The next time a travel magazine throws the thrills of an elephant safari at you, don’t let that sigh escape your lips. You only have to wait until September 22 for your share of jungle, jumbos and jaunts by night.

Manas National Park has launched an elephant safari called Jungle Night, which will be open to the public from the next season. Two NGOs, Enajori and Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society, are assisting the park authorities in their endeavour.

BTC deputy chief Kampha Borgoyary, who is also in charge of the forest department, flagged off the programme a week ago at the Bashbari range office. “We do not have an elephant safari here, and hope that our venture will help attract foreign tourists,” Borgoyary said. The safari will be part of the Manas Tiger Project.

And, while you take a joyride on the ample back of Rukmini, Chameli, Narmada, Urmila, Menoka, Daimalu or Meghanath along routes meandering through mud and marshes past bushes and creepers, and skirting streams, a calculated business venture will fall into place.

“Many trained jumbos are on their way to Manas,” Borgayary said.

“Though it will be a commercial venture, Jungle Night will be organised primarily to employ trained jumbos and their mahouts, to help the keepers earn a living. Trained elephants that are not employed in some way can otherwise become a burden for their owners,” secretary of Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society, Mahendra Basumatary, said.

“Be it jumbos or human beings, a source of sustenance is necessary for survival, and here we have something both for the elephants and their keepers”.

Tourists can walk on the wild side on elephantback and halt for the night in quaint forest lodges. Visitors will also be treated to the traditional arts, crafts and culture of the local people as part of the tour.

“This is the best way to explore the wild if you want to see the real Manas. At the same time, it will popularise this ancient mode of travelling. Manas can never really be experienced, unless you are part of its wilderness,” the BTC deputy chief said.

Borgoyary hopes the safari will draw enough attention to win back for Manas a place on the global map.

The national park was declared a World Heritage Site in 1985, a tag modified in 1992 to World Heritage Site in Danger. Insurgency-related threats in and around the sanctuary have resulted in depletion of forest resources that is manifesting itself in declining numbers of animals.