We spent this morning off-roading in the Nepal jungle looking for rare one-horned Indian Rhinos. There were several choices of off-road transportation available - first was a Mahindra tray back truck converted with seats on the back to carry a bunch of people. No. Second was a Maruti Gypsy (a LWD Suzuki Samurai made in India). No. Several converted pickups from either Toyota or Tata (Indian company, parent of Jaguar/Land Rover). Nope. We chose a more traditional form of off-road transportation for this part of the world - the Indian Elephant. Elisa is a 25 year old female (I guess that makes her a 1994 model?). She's little smaller than her male counterparts, but plenty big enough to carry the two of us plus a mahout (driver).
While cruising through the jungle on Elisa I did a little comparison between her and a Jeep.
Obstacle Capability. An elephant is like one of those newer vehicles with traction control systems designed for specific terrain, only smarter. When she comes up to an obstacle, she pauses and studies it for a while, tests her footing, and step by step conquers the obstacle with no false steps or slippage. Even with the best traction control system, I wouldn't drive a Jeep through some of the mud and up and down the riverbanks we did today, so I'll give her the win on this one.
Passenger comfort. A Jeep can be pretty rough on the trail, especially for passengers who aren't holding on to the steering wheel. But I think I'll still give the Jeep the win on this one. Passengers on an elephant (except for the mahout, who rides on the elephant's neck) ride in a howdah, which is a flat platform on the elephant's back with rails around the edges so you don't fall off. It's smaller then a Jeep cockpit and doesn't have comfy seats like a Jeep, so the Jeep wins.
Maneuverability. Elephant wins hands down. If you take the wrong line over an obstacle in a Jeep and fail, you usually have to back down and try a different line. The elephant rarely takes the wrong line, and if she decides on a better line half way up she can just step sideways. Can't do that in a Jeep. Win for the elephant.
Water crossings. We crossed a river twice today, in both spots probably deep enough to swamp the Jeep and also in both cases the river banks were steep enough to cause problems for the Jeep's approach and departure angles (not to mention the slippery mud on the bank). The elephant tests the depth as she crosses, and if necessary is a good swimmer (luckily we didn't need this capability today!). Definite win for the elephant.
Fuel economy. Hard to compare, although an adult elephant eats about 300 lbs. of fodder a day and drinks about 100 liters of water. You might think that the Jeep wins on this one, but Elisa eats as she travels, grabbing at grasses and leaves she finds yummy, so it's not much trouble. Drinks from rivers she crosses too. The solid and gaseous emissions from the elephant are pretty large, but I'll still give the elephant the win on this one even though occasionally if she finds something really tempting she'll stop to graze for a while in spite of the mahout's urging her to keep moving.
Trail requirements. Pretty much no special requirements for the elephant while the Jeep will need about 6' clear space to get through somewhere. She pushes small trees aside and slides through gaps that a Jeep could never negotiate. Really doesn't need a prepared trail, she just goes where the mahout tells her (assuming she agrees).
Noise level. Another win for the elephant because there's no engine noise, although there can be a lot of branches and sticks cracking and crashing.
Cargo Capacity. I'll rate this one a tie. The elephant can probably carry more weight and still navigate an obstacle than a Jeep can, but space is limited in the howdah so unless you've got a special harness on her the amount of stuff she can carry might be limited.
On-Road Performance. Gotta give the Jeep the win on this one. Think of the elephant as being permanently in low range and you'll know how fast she'll be on the road. Can't get home from the trail quickly on an elephant.
Oh, BTW, we were successful in spotting and shooting a Rhino (with my camera!). I believe there are less than 2000 of these left in the wild, about 1/3 of them in Nepal and 2/3 in Assam (an Indian state not far from Nepal).
