When floods recently struck Nepal and stranded hundreds of tourists in a jungle safari park, it was dozens of elephants who came to the rescue. The Rapti River had overflowed its banks in Sauraha, roughly 80 kilometers west of Kathmandu, leaving about 600 tourists stranded in the popular tourist destination.
“Some 300 guests were rescued on elephant backs and tractor trailers [and taken] to [nearby] Bharatpur yesterday [Sunday] and the rest will be taken to safer places today,” Suman Ghimire, head of a group of Sauraha hotel owners, told Reuters.
Sauraha is near Chitwan National Park, a nature reserve popular with tourists for rhino and elephant watching. But after the floods rose on August 13, 2017 people were stuck with no way of being evacuated. That’s when the domesticated elephants and their mahouts in the area saved the day.
According to National Geographic, elephants have been observed saving young calves from drowning and also have been filmed attempting to save people they see at risk of drowning.
Heavy monsoon rains caused landslide and flooding which has so far claimed over 200 lives and drowned much of the rice farmland in the area, which the country depends on for food.
A day after the elephants had rescued the tourists, a man sporting an umbrella was seen riding an elephant through the flooded streets.
Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links.