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Nepal has number of adventure sports to enjoy.
Elephant polo is one of the rare, adventures and
only of it's kind in Nepal. The World Elephant
Polo Association (WEPA) organizes an annual
Elephant polo tournament in the airfield of
Meghauli Chitwan, south west of Kathmandu and
north of the Indian border.
The World Elephant Polo Association (WEPA) was
established in 1982 having it's headquarter at
the Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge in Chitwan, Nepal.
WEPA has also established the governing rules
for the Elephant Polo Tournament.
Somehow, Elephant polo is similar to the Horse
polo but you can easily a bit difference. A fast
(at times), exciting game, 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 centre line, a circle with a
radius of 15 meters in the centre 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 between last week of
November – 1st week of December. |
