Millions of people astonished by the Elephant herd wandering China towns

– Are they headed home?

With increased scrutiny surrounding the welfare of elephants in zoological institutions, Chinese authorities and its people has again proved the world on effectively managing the conflict between humans and people. For more than a week now, the world has been gripped by a new internet sensation in China as a herd of 15 marauding elephants, who are large, lost and wrecking havoc in the country's southwest. Millions have tuned into livestreams of the elephants, Unsurprisingly, breakout stars have emerged. Viewers are particularly charmed by the herd's three calves, including one who was born during the epic journey, according to Chinese newspaper Global Times.

More than 8 million people watched a video captured last week showing a calf who found itself stuck under an adult elephant during a group nap near the city of Kunming, in southwestern Yunnan province. Another clip showed baby elephants clumsily tripping as they followed the herd across a field, while a separate video showed a calf plunging head-first into a pool as it attempted to gulp down water.

This herd of 15 wild Asian elephants continue to linger in the outskirts of the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, local authorities said. The elephants traveled approximately 500 km from their forest home in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture before reaching Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan in early June.

Asian elephants are under A-level state protection in China, where they are mostly found in Yunnan. Thanks to enhanced protection, the wild elephant population in the province has grown to about 300, up from 193 in the 1980s. For over a month, authorities have sent police to escort the herd, evacuated roads to facilitate their passage and used food to distract them from entering densely populated areas. The command on Saturday flew 14 drones to track the herd and mobilized 510 people and over 110 vehicles to block roads and guide the migration toward the southwest.

And online, people have followed transfixed as the elephants trampled crops, causing more than a million dollars worth of damage, and roamed through towns, prompting local residents to stay inside.

Unlike in many countries where conlicts emerge between people and animals, authorities have been attempting to keep a distance between them and local residents, while blocking roads into villages and seeking to lure them away with food drops. Despite that, the herd of 15 have raided farms, strolled down urban streets and foraged for snacks in villages and even a retirement home. All of the animals are reported to be healthy and no person has been injured in encounters with them.

Officials have issued strict orders not to gawk at them or seek to drive them off using firecrackers or other means. China's roughly 300 wild elephants enjoyed the highest level of protected status, on a par with the country's unofficial mascot, the panda bear. Officials are taking extra steps to protect the elephants — and local residents. However, extra precautions are being taken amid steady rainfall in the area and crowds of onlookers expected around the Dragon Boat festival on Monday. Additional emergency workers, vehicles and drones have been deployed to monitor the elephants' movements and protect local residents, the reports said. Some 2.5 tons of food were laid out for the animals on Friday.

It remains unclear why the elephants embarked on their trek, Some have posited that shrinking rainforests in their home may have prompted the trip. Others say they could just be lost -something that also worries elephant fans online. "It's really sad that we don't know when they will reach their destination," another user wrote on Weibo. Evan Sun, wildlife campaign manager with World Animal Protection, said possible reasons could include lack of food supply and a rise in the elephant population.

Here In Namibia, the growth in numbers of free roaming elephants has resulted in an increase in Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) incidences, according to Environment Ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda.

Muyunda said currently there are more elephants in unprotected areas than they are in protected national parks. "Our elephant population in Namibia is healthy but this means that they move into farming and communal areas resulting in an increase in conflicts between humans and elephants. The elephants cause damage to infrastructure by breaking fences, damaging dams and water tanks and pushing over windmills to the disadvantage of communities," he said.

According to Muyunda, Namibia is home to about 24,000 elephants where the majority are free roaming.

Muyunda said the country continues to educate communities on how to deal with elephants and how to mitigate conflict.

He said the country has also put up other measures to mitigate elephant conflict such as population management by reducing numbers through auctions or translocations.

"We are giving benefits to communities through conservancies where people have the right to utilize these animals for meat," he said.

He added that the costs of HWC to communities and governments can be outweighed by the economic benefits generated by conservancies that devolve rights over wildlife and the right to benefit from its sustainable use to local communities.

"The country finds itself between a rock and a hard place where we want to protect our people but we are also running a program of wildlife conservation which brings benefits to the communities and the country as a whole," he said.

Muyunda said the issue of human elephant conflict cannot be solved as long as there is a coexistence, there will always be conflict.

"What we want to ensure is that there is minimum conflict," he said.