Swimming with Rajan the Elephant
Rajan the elephant is “semi retired”, his mahout explains, usually he roams freely on a forest lined beach in the Andaman Islands but occasionally he turns up for work. This morning he has arrived on Havelock Beach at dawn to swim with us, we walk into the turquoise tinged crystal clear water and he lumbers in after us. At 56 he is pretty old and on land he is very relaxed, once in the water the weight seems to have been lifted off his shoulders and he glides along swooping left and right occasionally to avoid swimming into us. He is fully immersed and every 30 seconds or so reaches up to the air above with his trunk to breath.
Originally Rajan was trained to swim from island to island to help loggers heave their booty into the sea. From there it was collected by boats and shipped off to the mainland. Thankfully the logging is now banned and all of the Andaman’s elephants can relax. Most were released into the wild and have never been seen since, although rumors persist of herds of swimming elephants. No one really knows wether they do still commute across the channels that seperate the Andaman Islands, it’s just one of the many questions surrounding these beautiful and mysterious islands.
The best place to visit Rajan from is Barefoot Resort, an eco hotel on Havelock Island. It’s a truely magical place with lovely thatched cottages set back from Radha Nagar Beach, one of the top 10 beaches in Asia according to Time magazine. To see more amazing photos of Rajan swimming visit Steve Bloom’s website and type “elephant swimming” in the search box.
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