Thursday, September 30, 2010

Elephant polo in Nepal (Late Nov. to Early Dec.)

As you have seen by our previous posts, Nepal has number of adventure sports to enjoy. Elephant polo is one of the more rare adventures, and the is only one of its kind in Nepal. The World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA) organizes an annual Elephant polo tournament in the airfield of Meghauli Chitwan, southwest of Kathmandu, and north of the Indian border.


The World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA) was established in 1982, and has its headquarter at the Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge in Chitwan, Nepal. WEPA has also established the governing rules for the Elephant Polo Tournament.


Elephant polo is similar to regular polo (with a horse), but you can easily the big difference. A fast (at times), and exciting game, it is much like polo but with elephants and longer sticks. This is quite possibly the biggest sport in the world.


The game is played by four players of each team on a marked pitch 140 x 70 meters, using a standard size polo ball and consists of two 10-minute chukkers of playing time, with an interval of 15 minutes. The whistle blown by the referee stops and starts play. The pitch is marked with a center line, a circle with a radius of 15 meters in the center of the field, and a semi-circle with a radius of 30 meters measured from the centre of the goal line at either end of the pitch. Elephants and ends are changed at half time.


Teams participate from all over the world including Scotland, Thailand, England and Hong Kong. The local favorites, the Tiger Tops Tuskers, also take a part. After the day's play, all the players and guests have dinner in the Golghar, a traditional round house with a great bar.

Elephant Polo in Nepal runs from the last week of November through the first week of December.



Mailing Address:
First Environmental Trekking (P.) Ltd.
Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal
P.O.Box : 8056

Tel : + 977-1-4417343     
        + 977-1- 4424346
Mobile: +977-9851038817          
             +977-9851022303
Fax : + 977-1-4423855

E-mail : firstentrek@wlink.com.np
http://www.go2trek.com
http://www.firstetrek.com

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