Elephant Polo

Elephant polo is a type of polo played while riding elephants. It is played in Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, but players can come from many different countries.

The pitch is smaller than a normal polo pitch because the elephant moves slowly. Two people ride each elephant - one is a player and the other is a mahout. The player tells the mahout which direction to go and the mahout steers the elephant around the pitch. The elephant will only listen to the commands given by the mahout.

There are many strict rules in elephant polos because the safety of the elephants is the most important thing. Elephants are not allowed to pick up the ball with their trunks during the match. Also, at the end of each match the elephants are given a sugar cane or rice balls with vitamins.

Players train for the matches by sitting on top of a jeep and swinging at a ball with the polo stick. One interesting fact about the game: at the beginning of elephant polo, footballs were used. Soon people discovered the elephants liked to stand on the balls and pop them so they changed the balls to the harder ones used in traditional polo.

Adapted from www.wikipedia.org & www.anantaraelephantpolo.com