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Dec 2004
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Foreigners eager for the jumbo ride of their lives

     Jaipur: This tourist season has brought good news for elephant owners in Jaipur as the number of foreign tourists arriving in Amer fort is almost double compared to the last season. As many as 800 to 900 foreign nationals are enjoying elephant rides while climbing the Amer fort now. Since a single elephant does almost double trips, the elephant trade has now become a money minting machine for the owners. Long queues of foreign tourists throng the campus of Amer fort in Jaipur. The tourists are curious to go on elephant rides here. This year, the number of elephant riders is highly encouraging to the elephant owners themselves. Kesh Furlord, a tourist said, "It is the most beautiful country I have ever seen. Its culture and the elephant ride is beautiful. The surroundings are peaceful, it is very nice." Mahouts on the other hand allege that while the elephant owner mint money, they themselves are an impoverished lot. They get paid as little as 1000 rupees as salary in spite of almost double or triple business they provide to the owners during the season. Reis, a mahout said, "Five to six turns are done, but we mahouts face a lot of problems. The owners don't pay us well, the tourist guides too are like that. We earn Rs 200-300 per day".

     Even tour operators acknowledge foreigners being crazy about Elephant rides. More so as Amer fort is the only place in Rajasthan where they can enjoy elephant rides. "Now-a-days, 350-400 Elephants are being rotated, earlier it wasn't like this. All get to earn well, even they (mahouts) earn well," said Mahendra Singh, tourist officer. Elephant owners also claim that their business has witnessed a boom this year and broken all the previous records of the last fifteen years. Babu Khan, President of Elephants Owners' Association said, "This year, the tourist season has been better than the last. But it is the Pushkar that will further determine as to how well it all goes."
-Dec 2, 2004

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