KATHMANDU, DEC 23 - The annual Chitwan Elephant Festival is being held from December 26 at Baghmaar Community Forest, Sauraha. The festival, aimed at both local and international tourists, is being organised for the 11th time this year. The festival will see many activities and competitions involving elephants and humans collaborating together.

The elephant race is the prime attraction of this year’s festival. The organisers have stated that the race will be held on a one-way track this time around.

 The festival will also be holding an elephant picnic in the forest area. The main aim of the event is to promote elephant conservation. During the period of the festival, the organising committee plans on setting up other programmes that could help make people aware of the importance of elephants in the ecosystem as well as the dire need to unite for the conservation of nature as a whole.

Elephant-calf football, elephant beauty contest, animal cart race, boat race and elephant habitat briefing are some of the other programmes that are being featured during the event. The festival will be on till the last day of December.