Muraled elephants with eyeliners participate in beauty pageant in Nepal

Dunya News

This year's celebrations marked the 16th edition of the annual 'Chitwan Elephant Festival'.

SAURAHA (Reuters) - Elephants with mural paintings over their bodies, nail polish on nails and tippy-toes on participated in an unusual elephants’ beauty pageant in Nepal’s southern tourist destination Sauraha.

This year’s celebrations marked the 16th edition of the annual ‘Chitwan Elephant Festival’, in which the beauty pageant enthralled a large number of visitors at the tourist hub from across the country.

A ‘Mahout’ (elephant trainer), Jire Chaudhary said the elephants participating in the show were trained affectionately for around six-to-seven months, which included a long series of procedures and preparedness.

A total of five elephants participated in this years event, in which elephant who were jugged on the basis of overall cleanliness of both body, nails, elephant walking style and discipline for obeying the instructions given by the ‘Mahouts’.

The festival is a great opportunity to interact with the biggest terrestrial mammal on earth, and it also generates awareness about them.