Elephant Polo World Championships

Festival Location: Meghauly, Nepal

Festival Type(s): Bizarre Sports Events, Bizarre Festivals, Animal Festivals

Elephant Polo

By: © Michael J. Rosen 2009

"No Elephant May Lie Down in Front of the Goal."

- from the World Polo Association rule book

This sport, played exclusively in four countries - India, and the three-members of Elephant Polo Association: Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Nepal - presents all the challenges of pony polo, plus plenty of problems particular to playing perched upon pachyderms.

A game of elephant polo involves two teams of three elephants each, along with an elephant-mounted referee, on a bare field in each of two chukkas. Each "player" is actually a pair: The generally smaller mahout, the elephant handler, rides on the elephant's neck and steers with verbal commands and barefoot pressure; the larger, more fancily dressed player riding in the saddle wields the bamboo mallet that can be anywhere from 5 to 12 feet long. (It can be a long way down to the playing field depending on the player's and the elephant's height.)

What's been true since the first elephants stepped onto the planet, let alone onto the manicured polo field, is that pachyderms don't maneuver quickly. Moreover, the sheer girth of animals often hides the ball once it's in play, and the competitors simply can't see it. (More helpful than just cheering "DE-FENCE! DE-FENCE!" as in other sports, fans actually call out the ball's whereabouts.) But one lithe and accidental trouncing by a half-ton (plus two riders) elephant can pack the ball into the playing field, which occasions a "restart."

Other rules? An elephant may not lie down in front of a goal, nor may one pick up the ball with its trunk. Oh, and there's one other trouble that plagues to this version of polo: Dung. Seven elephants, each of whom consumes some 175 pounds of food daily, will create 1,200 pounds of dung...at some point during the day of a competition.

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Elephant Polo World Championships Dates and Location

The Elephant Polo World Championships take place in Nepal in November/December annually. Have an elephantine urge to join this "most exotic and exuberant" sport? Contact The World Elephant Polo Association.