6:35PM GMT 28 Dec 2012
The 9th annual elephant race, which is organised by hoteliers and Nepalese
tourist offices, was won by an elephant named Bahadur Gaj.
The race, which took place in Sauraha in the Chitwan region of Nepal,
was part of the three day 9th International Elephant Festival which started
on December 26 and proved very popular with both locals and tourists.
One unidentified Australian tourist said: "Only in Nepal can you see
elephant race. And I think this should be the best race in the world."
Shankar Sainju, the founding president of the organising committee of Elephant
festival says their next phase in planning is to start building a fully
fledged stadium only for animal sports - with elephants regularly playing
games of football. Their plans are to have it completed within the next five
years.
Other elephant-themed events during the festival included a soccer match, a
beauty contest, a bull cart race, and a horse cart race.
