The secrets of ‘The Gathering’ must be preserved

Please don’t destroy the vibrant eco- system that draws the large number of elephants to Minneriya, is the urgent appeal from the heart by conservation is tphotographer Dilum Alagiyawanna who points out that ‘The Gathering’, sometimes brings as many as 300-350 elephants there.

‘The Gathering’ has been listed among the top 10 ‘Greatest Wildlife Spectacles’ by Lonely Planet and is among just two from Asia. It comes ahead of Sarawak’s ‘Bats of Deer Cave’.

The secrets of ‘The Gathering’ at Minneriya are embedded in the cascade tank system which encompasses Minneriya, Kaudulla and Kantalai tanks, says Dilum, pointing out that Minneriya holds around 135 million cubic metres of water for about four months of the year from December to March. Thereafter, a large volume of the water is released for agriculture, leaving only about 25 million cubic metres of water.

“As the Minneriya tank holds 135 million cubic metres of water only for four months, the grass- roots on the tank-bed don’t die. As soon as the water recedes, the grass grows again,” says Dilum who spends long hours at Minneriya, roughing out and surviving on basics. He leaves home in Pelawatte around 1 a.m. arriving at the Minneriya National Park’s gate by 6 a.m., the first to enter and the last to leave. It was during those long hours and days that he kept questioning why such a large number of elephants came there, with the answer dawning on him as he watched them.

If, however, explains Dilum with much emotion, the water is stored longer in the Minneriya tank, this unique ecosystem will perish and die without hope of a fresh lease of life.

“Those who come in their numbers to graze on the grass, nourished by ron-mada (sediment) are nursing mothers, other females and their young,” he says, adding that even if the tank is kept empty, it would adversely affect this phenomenon.

Dilum’s fervent plea is: “What is taking place at Minneriya has been happening for centuries, with the biggest grassland appearing and disappearing according to this cycle. So let’s leave it alone, not interfere with such a wonder, but find other technical solutions to overcome development needs.”

These majestic creatures which converge on Minneriya have rewarded him amply not only by giving him a firsthand look at their way of life but also how akin to humans they are in their behaviour.

See this mother, pulling out clumps of grass, while looking directly at her baby like a human mother. She is showing the baby how to use its trunk to eat, he says showing us footage.

Dilum has also captured siblings playing and then quarrelling and the younger one running to the mother to snitch and the mother reprimanding the older one.

Recalling the incident where the elephant-aunt stopped the herd from attacking him, he says that before that incident, to him elephants were just like any other species. But that changed his perspective and he realized “how intelligent they are and how much like us”.