Dhupjhora elephant camp (Gorumara Central Pilkhana) in India

Dhupjhora is located on the fringes of the Gorumara National Park.

Cottages providing accommodation to three persons costs Rs 500 per day and the single tree-top cottage is charged at Rs 800 per day. Visitors have to pay Rs 200 per day for food, Rs 100 for elephant rides and Rs 200 per cottage for cultural programmes.

The forest department has planned a comprehensive package for the tourists who can go to nearby rivers and streams to watch them bath and feed. The package is called the Captive Elephant Management Programme.

2002: 9 captive elephants: Nine captive elephants are presently in the Gorumara National Park and have been managed since the late eighties. Eight elephants are in the Buxa National Park and have been managed since the late nineties. These are used in patrolling duty only. (Cheeran, 2002)

2014: Senior most among her colleagues is Chipra Rani. Captured as a calf in 1962, though aged now, she is still on duty with her 10 ft plus high mountainous physique. She is the tallest one too. But Singheswari is enjoying her purely retired life for last 10 years at Buxa Tiger Reserve elephant camp. Not entirely jobless. She looks after the young ones at creche while their mothers are in field. However, at 9:00 am in the morning on Friday, “Though he had a tough day yesterday, I must get my Surya ready for duty today. It is not a free day for us,” says Anukul, a senior mahout. And so for others like Hilari, Aman, Kiranraj, Fulmati, Chandan or Bholanath, all those are almost over by now with their usual breakfast- few kilograms of sprout, mixed with heavy dose of rock salt.