A group of tourists who missed their scheduled elephant safari in the Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district ended up experiencing a far more thrilling, scary and unforgettable adventure when they were rescued from floodwaters on the back of a kunki (trained elephant).

Torrential rain through the night of October 4 had swollen the Torsha and Holong rivers, snapping communication lines and flooding large parts of the Jaldapara region. By the following morning, the wooden Holong bridge had been completely washed away, cutting off Madarihat Tourist Lodge, the assistant wildlife warden’s office, and the north range office from the rest of Madarihat.

With roads submerged and the bridge gone, 26 tourists found themselves stranded at the tourist lodge. Both the elephant and car safaris were suspended, trains were diverted, and some visitors even missed their flights.

As water levels began to recede slightly on Sunday afternoon, the forest department deployed three kunkis to ferry tourists across the Holong to Madarihat, from where they could travel by road.

“At first, many tourists were apprehensive as the river was still raging furiously, and the thought of crossing it on an elephant’s back seemed daunting. But a few adventurous visitors decided to embrace the rare opportunity,” said a forester.

Among the first to make the daring crossing were Siddharth and Tania Sen, a couple from Calcutta, accompanied by two others on the same elephant. The kunki had to take a longer, safer route, which is nearly a kilometre away from the broken bridge, before it could wade through the river and bring them to safety in Madarihat.

“It was an unforgettable experience,” said Tania Sen on Wednesday, still excited after reaching solid ground. “We went there hoping to enjoy the elephant safari, but because of the bad weather, it was cancelled. Instead, we ended up riding an elephant through a swollen river and it was far more thrilling and scary than the usual safari.”