Track running through the project site.
On the advice of our manager in Sri Lanka, we broke the trip into two parts. Leaving the Colombo Hilton at 1pm on Tuesday we headed for Kandalama, planning to arrive at about 5pm. From there we overnighted at the Heritage Hotel and were picked up at 7am by a SLWCS four wheel drive for the remaining two hour drive to the site.
Brahminy Kite over the lake at Kandalama.
As we were driving we got to see first hand the 'conflict' areas between farmers and elephants, and had explained to us the traditional methods farmers use to cope with the problem. Namely, building a tree house on the edge of the jungle, and staying up all night to watch for elephants. Should an elephant, or more likely a herd of elephants come along, the idea is the farmer in the tree house makes a lot of noise to scare them off. Which doesn't always work. In which case the farmer can either choose to lose his whole crop, and income, or climb down the tree and beat the elephants off with a stick.
I would not like to be eye to eye with an elephant in the middle of the night.
I can't imagine the courage it would take to set to a group of wild elephants like that. I suppose if the alternative is total ruin, people can do some pretty amazing things. Even more amazing though, is that often it works, and the farmer can successfully defend his crop. Tragically, sometimes it doesn't work, and the farmer is killed or injured (50 people a year are killed during raids), and/or the elephants destroy the crop. At that point, things can turn nasty for the elephants, as the farmers family may start a vendetta and hunt and kill the elephants (estimated around 100 per year).
Humans and elephants have existed side by side in Sri Lanka for centuries, and farm raids were only very infrequent. What has changed in recent years, and made raids far more frequent, is three things;
1) Encroachment on native habitat by logging
2) The spread of a type of non-native grass that has far lower nutritional value than the native varieties it has replaced
Which both contribute to less food for elephants, and in some cases starvation, and
3) Farms planting cash crops of pineapple, corn and legumes - food elephants, particularly starving elephants, love.
Now, there are an estimated 4,500 wild elephants in Sri Lanka, but each year, the population declines by several hundred.
The SLWCS have initiated a number of innovative projects and trials, all with the same hallmark of improving or changing 'agricultural practices so that agricultural development can be sustained over the long-term'.
Hence we have the project we have become involved in - the Exetel Dairy Project - which, in a nutshell aims to:
* cross breed native and Indian cattle varieties to improve milk production from 4 litres per day to 10 - 15 litres per day. At this level, dairy farming becomes viable and can replace cash crops for farm income.
* Elephants and cattle co-exist, one eating the fodder the other leaves
* Sri Lanka imports 90% of its milk, improving local production will help the economy as well
* develop farming practices that minimize the impact to the local flora an fauna
* based on the outcome of the trial project, provide education to other farmers of sustainable dairy farming
* Increase productivity, which is decreased when the farmer has to guard crops all night
We arrived at the site by 9am and were greeted by typical Sri Lankan hospitality - a table set in the shade of a mud brick hut laden with local treats, and rich, strong Ceylon tea - thoroughly delicious and greatly appreciated.
Commencement of site preparation.
It being day 20 of month one of the two year project, there was not a lot yet to see at the site. Never the less, preparation work had commenced, and we walked the length and breadth of the boundaries talking with Chandeep Corea (Operations Director) and Samantha Mirandu (Project Manager) who explained the project in more detail.
Part of the Project team: Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Samantha Mirandu, Darshana DeSeram, Chandeep Corea.
What was abundantly clear was the enthusiasm and dedication that the project team has towards meeting the project goals. It is one thing to be told (albeit from a very trusted source) that this is probably the best way we can contribute to conservation in Sri Lanka, it is quite another to see first hand that there is no doubt it is.
Samantha Mirandu points out invasive non-native grasses contributing to the problem of elephant raids.
A couple of points of interest; as we were walking along the track at the site, Samantha pointed to a large round indentation in the ground, 'Elephant tracks' he said. 'How long ago do you think?' I asked. 'About half an hour'. We didn't see one, but it was pretty clear from those and other tracks, that, at any minute a wild elephant could emerge from the jungle. What do you do if that happens we asked? Run very fast, apparently.
Teak trees growing on the site form part of the long term viability plan. These trees are about 20 years old.
What we did see though, was wild pea fowl, a peacock with attending pea hens. Fascinating to see those birds in their natural state in the wild. Also, just briefly along the side of the road as we were driving was what looked like a rooster, but with a long, almost peacock like tail, and four, what looked like, pea hens - native jungle fowl as it turned out.
