Evie Astbury's Journey

Evie, Conservation Researcher, spent 10 days with the AHP team visiting communities affected by elephants. While there, she saw first hand the damage that elephants can do to people’s homes and crops. However, the AHP has been making a difference and because of the techniques used to protect communities, villages that were abandoned are now lived in once more.

While visiting a tea plantation, Evie witnessed the other side of the story when a herd of 20 wild elephants were being moved out of the plantation by the owners ‘kunkies’ (domestic elephants with their mahouts). On this occasion, the herd were unfortunately pushed into a community and young villagers noisily chased the elephants back into the tea garden. It was obvious that elephants face this kind of disturbance across the whole of Assam.

An important part of the visit was to discuss the future expansion plans for the AHP. The team has already started visiting districts right across the whole state of Assam and surveys are finding new villages to benefit from the projects. It is vital for the future of the Asian elephant in Assam that communities can live alongside these amazing animals. The AHP is helping them to do this, and is also developing long term plans to protect and regenerate the elephant’s natural forest habitat.

Evie Astbury's Journey

Maggie Esson's Journey

Andrea Fidgett's Journey