Elephant and Tourism Festival Starts In Chitwan

The 18th Elephant and Tourism Festival in Chitwan's Sauraha is starting today. The festival will be held for five days at the Baghmara Community Forest ground, marking the start of the Nepali New Year 2025 and Christmas.

This annual festival helps attract more internal and external tourists to Sauraha, according to the Sauraha Regional Hotel Association.

The festival will feature an elephant decoration competition, elephant picnic, elephant-friendly football penalty contest, elephant-friendly musical walk, elephant health checkup camp, a boat competition at the local level, meetings with domestic and international tour and travel agencies, discussions about Chitwan’s tourism potential, performances of local costumes, art, and culture, cultural performances by national and local artists, and exhibitions of women entrepreneurs and local agricultural products.

According to the organizers, nearly 50 elephants, both private and government-owned, will participate in the festival.