Diwakar Pyakurel April 6, 2021 Comments Tourists on elephant safari in Chitwan National Park, Nepal [Image by: Sergi Reboredo / Alamy] Facing a tourism slump due to the Covid-19 pandemic, elephant ride operators around Nepal’s Chitwan National Park are selling their animals to India in defiance of laws. Padam does not remember when he began keeping elephants at his hotel. But he says that guests used to pay well for elephant rides in the community forests outside Nepal’s famous Chitwan National Park. Padam’s two elephants were kept busy from dawn to dusk until March 2020. But as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic restricted travel worldwide, one of Nepal’s most popular tourist sites was largely deserted. Although the Nepali government has now lifted most travel restrictions, Chitwan hoteliers like Padam are still faced with less than 50% occupancy.