The Great Elephant Gathering of Rajaji

Every summer, hundreds of Asian elephants converge on the grasslands of Rajaji. Inside the corridor science, community work, and long nights that keep this migration alive.

Rajaji National Park holds one of the healthiest populations of Asian elephants in northern India. Each year, as the Sal forests dry and the Himalayan streams shrink, herds move down from the higher ranges toward the perennial grasslands near the Ganga and the Ramgarh block — a slow, deliberate migration that researchers have been mapping for over a decade.

### Why the grasslands matter

The elephant grass of Rajaji is not scenery. It is food, cover, and a nursery. Tall clumps of Saccharum and Miscanthus hide calves from heat and predators, while the tender shoots provide the bulk of an adult elephant's daily intake. When the grasslands are grazed too hard by livestock, the herds push closer to villages — the first spark of human-wildlife conflict.

### Corridors under pressure

Four major corridors link Rajaji to the forests of Lansdowne and the Shivalik ranges beyond. Fencing, quarrying, and the widening of the Haridwar–Dehradun highway have narrowed two of them to barely two hundred metres. The Forest Department, with support from conservation groups, has planted native fodder species and negotiated seasonal route adjustments with local communities.

### What visitors can do

- **Keep distance:** Elephants on the move are unpredictable. Never block a herd's path in a vehicle. - **Stay silent:** Engine noise and shouting cause herds to split, which separates calves from mothers. - **Support corridors:** Choosing registered safari operators who follow zone rules is a direct contribution to corridor safety.

Every jeep that respects a crossing herd helps keep this migration — older than the park itself — intact for the next monsoon.