Pach-ing for the long trip home

A herd of wild elephants that has captivated the world with their yearlong trek through China — raiding farms and even a retirement home for food along the way — may finally be heading back home.

The 14 Asian elephants, including three calves, were spotted Sunday heading across a bridge (above) in China’s Yunnan province.

The roaming herd is still about 125 miles away from the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve where they lived, but local authorities are currently opening a path to help guide them back there.

The herd left the reserve a year ago for unknown reasons and set off on a 300-mile trek to the north of the country. Authorities have spent the past year deploying trucks, workers and at least 14 government drones to monitor the elephants as they made their long national migration.

Adorable drone footage shot in June captured the herd napping together near Xiyang (left).

Officials have evacuated roads for the elephants so they could pass safely and used food to steer the animals away from populated urban areas. The elephants have stampeded through at least 15 farms and caused more than a million dollars of economic damage throughout their journey, according to local authorities.

After reaching the outskirts of the city of Kunming in June, the herd turned south again and appear to now be en route back home.

China only has about 300 wild elephants left and their status in the country is highly protected.

It is unclear why the herd left the nature reserve in the first place.