For decades, no one asked how elephants felt beneath those saddles.
In Saraha, the gateway to Chitwan National Park, dozens of elephants carried tourists for generations while their spines, legs, and bone structure suffered in silence. Nepal’s Supreme Court confirmed it with scientific evidence in point 48 of a 62-page ruling: those bodies were never designed to support heavy howdahs or groups of humans for hours. The result was chronic joint pain, physical deformities, and severe stress.
The court, in this ruling issued in December 2025 and published in mid-2026, not only ordered an end to the safaris; it also required a ban on chaining and the retirement of Chitwan’s elephants, with rehabilitation centers built to receive them. The government will have to lead a transition that also protects the families who depended on this industry.
Thus, an animal that was an attraction for years becomes a symbol of tourism that is beginning to look before climbing aboard.
