Chitwan Elephant Festival: Tradition, Transition & a Changing Future

The Chitwan Elephant Festival reflects Nepal’s evolving relationship with elephants, from spectacle to stewardship. Once known for elephant rides and polo matches, the festival now showcases a region rethinking how humans and elephants coexist, culturally, ethically and sustainably.

From Elephant Polo to Elephant Welfare

Before the COVID period, the event was widely known as the Elephant Polo Festival, attracting international teams, luxury travelers, and large crowds. While visually striking, elephant polo raised growing concerns about animal welfare.

After COVID, the festival returned under a new identity: Chitwan Elephant Festival, with a different focus:

• Elephant polo was discontinued
• Public elephant rides were gradually reduced
• Education, culture, and conservation took center stage

This change didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen easily. Chitwan’s economy has long depended on elephant-based tourism. But momentum has clearly shifted, especially following the 18th Chitwan Elephant Festival in 2024, which drew significant international criticism, including from World Animal Protection.

Currently, the Chitwan Elephant Festival lasts three days. For 2026, organizers plan to expand it to five days to allow more time for cultural performances, educational workshops, community activities and ethical wildlife demonstrations. The additional days give visitors a richer and more immersive experience, highlighting Tharu traditions, conservation efforts and responsible interactions with elephants, while reducing the focus on any single spectacle or performance.

Elephant Safaris for Tourists: The Shift

Some resorts and operators have completely stopped selling elephant rides; others quietly offer them. Many now promote alternatives: jeep safaris, walking safaris, canoeing and birdwatching.

At Amazing Kathmandu Tours, we do not support or sell elephant rides. Instead, our Nepal Highlights – 11 Days | Culture, Comfort & Adventure round trip offers:

• Walking safaris in the jungle, tiger territory, with licensed guides
• Jeep safaris through Chitwan National Park
• Canoe rides on the Rapti River
• Visits to Tharu villages, cultural performances and educational conservation talks

This shorter stay makes responsible choices even more important. With limited time, visitors’ decisions directly influence what kind of tourism survives. Choosing ethical experiences sends a clear signal.

How We Experience Chitwan Differently

Chitwan and Sauraha are typically a 2–3 night stop on a Nepal round trip, so how you explore matters.

On our Nepal Highlights round trip, travelers explore Sauraha in an active and immersive way on a guided mountain bike tour. Cycling through villages, riverside paths, and quiet countryside, rarely seen by typical visitors, often reveals elephants roaming freely, cared for by rangers or private owners. This type of cycling experience is still uncommon, offering a unique perspective on the region and its human and wildlife landscapes.

How Elephants Are Used in Chitwan Today

Elephants still play a role in Chitwan, but their use is more complex than many visitors realize.

• Park rangers continue to use elephants in limited situations inside dense jungle, primarily for anti-poaching patrols and monitoring in areas inaccessible by vehicles.
• Private individuals and tourism facilities also own elephants, which is why elephants are sometimes seen walking along roads and village paths around Sauraha.
• Alternatives such as jeeps and drones are increasingly used, raising ongoing debate about whether elephants are still necessary for patrol work in all situations.

An adult Asian elephant is extremely expensive to maintain. The purchase price can reach tens of thousands of US dollars and an elephant eats roughly 150–200 kg of fodder per day, including grass, leaves and supplements. Feeding and care alone can cost hundreds of dollars per month, excluding veterinary care, mahout salaries and housing. These costs are a key reason elephant-based tourism has been so hard to phase out and why economic alternatives matter.

Tiger Tops & Responsible Elephant Experiences

The Tiger Tops resort proudly markets itself as Nepal’s first company to offer responsible elephant experiences. They stopped all elephant-back safaris in 2015 and now focus on:

• Interactive experiences that impose far less burden on the elephants
• Large, spacious corrals across 18 acres for the herd to roam freely
• Guided, educational encounters emphasizing elephant welfare

Why the Chitwan Elephant Festival 2026 Matters

The festival isn’t perfect, but it matters. It shows:

• A public shift away from exploitative attractions
• Willingness to evolve traditions
• Recognition that conservation and tourism must coexist

For Nepal, a developing country balancing livelihoods and wildlife protection, this transition is significant. The Chitwan Elephant Festival 2026 isn’t about pretending the past didn’t happen, it’s about redefining the future.

Experience Chitwan Responsibly

Chitwan remains one of South Asia’s richest wildlife regions. Experiencing it ethically doesn’t reduce the adventure, it deepens it.

• Walking through tiger habitat with a licensed guide
• Watching rhinos emerge from the mist at dawn
• Listening to the jungle instead of engines
• Cycling through Sauraha’s countryside, villages and riverside paths, spotting elephants roaming freely, something most operators do not offer
• Jeep safaris and canoe rides providing varied perspectives of the park

These moments stay with you far longer than a photo on an elephant’s back.

Amazing Kathmandu Tours offers Chitwan experiences that focus on:

• Wildlife conservation
• Cultural respect
• Ethical tourism choices
• Small-scale, meaningful encounters
• Unique access to the human and natural landscape through cycling, walking, jeep and canoe tours

If you’re planning a Nepal itinerary and wondering how Chitwan fits into a responsible journey, we’re happy to help. Chitwan is changing. The festival reflects that. And as travelers, so do we.