Industry & Tourism
A December Supreme Court ruling told Sauraha to phase out elephant rides on welfare grounds. Eight months on, roughly 44 elephants and the guides who…
By Laxman Rawal · Aug 15, 2026
In December 2025, two justices on Nepal's Supreme Court wrote a line that is now reshaping tourism in one of the country's best-known wildlife towns: forcing a species already in decline to carry tourists on its back, they ruled, is inherently irresponsible…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Nobody in Sauraha wants a sudden ban, and the court did not order one. Owners argue, reasonably, that an elephant does not stop needing a mahout, a vet and a substantial daily supply of fodder just because riding income disappears overnight; a rushed cutoff…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
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