“Oh hello there, have you come for a chat? You wouldn’t happen to have some food on you by any chance? No? That’s ok. Us Asian Elephants eat up to 150kg of food per day. That’s a lot of foraging, so I’ve found a small hack. You just walk up to the people in the safari jeeps and they give you food. Sometimes, they make it a fun experience and hide their food, so I have to put my trunk inside the jeep and find it. The people get very excited when I do that. I think they love it! Sometimes I just walk along the Sithulpawwa Road and stop vehicles to get food, I like to call that fast food! Other times I walk up to the Sithulpawwa Temple and the kind monks there feed me nice fruit.”

“You’re probably wondering why I’m called a tusker because you can’t see any tusks, right? Ah well, there was a time when I was quite boisterous and ruled the land. But the jungle has a way of levelling egos. A couple of young upstarts, Sando and Parakum, challenged my status and I took it personally. Unfortunately, I lost a tusk when I tussled with them. No shame, they were big bulls and deserved their win. My other tusk was lost to Nandimithra, who is an annoying fellow. He keeps trespassing into my territory. Although I got some good shots in, I was unsuccessful… difficult to win with only one tusk. Oh well that’s life! I’m 45 now and getting on in my years, so I’ve calmed down and found more peaceful ways of surviving.”

Sightings of Gemunu are not uncommon near the Mahoora Tented Safari Camp in Yala, as it is situated on the borders of Yala National Park. Dilum Captured this photo of Gemunu when he still had one tusk remaining, in Yala during a safari in 2018.