BAHUNDANGI, Nepal – The heavy thud against the glass window sent Krishna Bahadur Rasaili’s heart racing. Stepping outside, he saw his granary lay in ruins, and an elephant was feasting on his hard-earned paddy harvest. For years, this has been a terrifying reality in Bahundangi, a village along Nepal’s eastern border with India along the […]

Once the epicenter for deadly human-elephant conflict, an eastern Nepal village along the Indian border has transformed into a model of coexistence.

Villagers, once fearful, have adopted elephant-resistant crops and beekeeping, and through a rapid response team, they safely guide elephants away.

Government policies, conservation efforts and shifting community attitudes have significantly reduced fatalities, with no deaths reported in the area since 2015.

While Bahundangi offers a model for coexistence, villages along the migratory routes for elephants have become hotspots for human-elephant encounters, requiring the need for conservation corridors and education to mitigate conflicts.