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Chitral Jayatilake

The wildlife in Sri Lanka is various and extraordinary. But it’s the elephant that, for 2,000 years, has defined this country.

Villagers lead a procession in the hope of enjoying good harvests and good health, and of having crops and lives spared from roaming elephants.

Prithiviraj Fernando — known simply as ‘The Doctor’ — is a man who’s devoted his life to studying elephants.

From February — as the climate becomes drier and the waters recede elsewhere — animals start coming each evening to the shore of the Minneriya Reservoir. And they keep on coming.