Things to see and do Sauraha

Every day, the mahouts take their old elephants to the little East Rapti River for a bath, which they maintain with the money from tourists who come to interact with them. It's a moment of relaxation and play for the pachyderms, who squeal with delight. Visitors can massage him with a pebble (a sort of scrub to scratch him, he loves it) and then climb on (without a saddle) to get sprayed. The mahouts are members of a cooperative, the price is fixed per group, and it's a good alternative to an elephant safari without harming the pachyderms.

The area around Sauhara is a great place to take a walk and discover the way of life of the Tharu, a Hindu people from Rajasthan who settled in Nepal after fleeing the Muslim invasion of India in the ^10th century. Their presence in the Terai dates back to the Middle Ages. The Tharu village dedicated to visitors may seem a little artificial, but it provides an insight into the life of this people, whose discretion is de rigueur. It houses a small museum, a traditional wattle-and-daub house in which everyday objects are exhibited.

Opened in 1987, the Breeding Center is one of the world's first. Each elephant is assigned three carers: the phanit or driver, the second driver called patchghua, who feeds the pachyderm, and the mahout, who cleans the stalls. Nevertheless, these are elephants destined to be domesticated. They are chained, even the smallest ones, and penned in tin sheds, and the spectacle is a sight to behold despite the enduring tradition of elephant safaris. In fact, some lodges have ethically abandoned this practice.