Browsing by Author "Sanatanie, K.A.S."

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Sustainable Elephant Safaris in Sigirya
(Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Sanatanie, K.A.S.
The elephant safari is part of nature tourism and is mainly established in attractive places. We can recognize Sigiriya as an attraction for cultural tourism. So with that cultural background we can promote elephant back safaris through innovative means rather than traditional methods. The instant trails are very harmful to elephants. They are very sensitive creatures that play a major role in cultural events in Sri Lanka from the time of ancient Kings. So that is why they are animals that should be conserved. Even though we think that the domestic elephants live in a protective environment, it is not the truth as it is very harmful to them. A domestic elephant should be conserved as a rehabilitative human. When they are used as a tourism tool, they should not be separated from their native environments. The backpack buckets are made of steel. Indeed it is a pathetic situation. Some elephants are suffering from the wounds because of those iron buckets. On the other hand we must introduce cane or bulrush instead of steel to prepare buckets. We can also use mattresses to ensure that it is comfortable. My discussion is that the elephant safari must be enhanced as a sustainable concept. As a new concept the elephant safari can be joined with eco-tourism in order to ensure the sustainability of the elephant safari. It will promote the sustainable concept that Sigiriya Village people are joining with this event even this time. The objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of elephant safari in tourism while paying attention to the well being of the animals in such activities.