“The Village was called Baddegama, which means the Village in the Jungle. The jungle surrounded it, overhung it, continually pressed in upon it. It stood at the door of the houses, always ready to press in upon the compounds and open spaces, to break through the mud huts and to choke up the tracks and paths..”

This is how Leonard Woolf described Baddegama in his classic book ‘Village in the Jungle’. That village in Hambantota was abandoned by the villagers and after the last inhabitant Punchi Menika died, it was engulfed by the jungle.

Beating a can: How villagers chase away the jumbos.

Walpolamulla, a village in the jungle located in the Knuckles mountain range awaits the same fate as Baddegama. The last inhabitants of the village abandoned Walpolamulla last week, driven away not by the encroaching jungle as in Woolf’s story, but by a group of marauding elephants.

Walpolamulla is perhaps the smallest village in Sri Lanka with just three families made up of seven members. You have to walk 8 km through the jungle to reach Walpolamulla from Rathhinda - the last point where a vehicle can go. In the past few weeks, jumbos have come into the village that extends to nearly an acre and damaged houses in search of food. The oldest villager Kapilaratne Banda is in hospital after being attacked by an elephant.

With no help at hand and the danger ever present, the villagers took the hard decision to abandon their home. Kapilaratne Banda has lived all 74 years of his life in Knuckles. The footpaths across the jungle are as familiar to him as the lines criss-crossing the palm of his hand. On June 13 he was walking with his wife Pinchi Amma to the neighbouring village of Malkirigoda when they encountered the jumbos around 8 in the morning.

Pinchi Amma was quick to hide, but Kapilaratne was not so lucky. One elephant attacked him and then perhaps deterred by Pinchi Amma’s screams, went back to the jungle. Kapilaratne’s leg was injured and villagers had to carry him through the footpaths to a motorable road. He is still being treated at the Matale hospital. “We did not have elephants in this area before. I’m so scared now to walk across the jungle,” said Pinchi Amma, fear written on her face.

Elephants are new to Knuckles, but there are reports of a herd of about 12 wild elephants now roaming the areas of Walpolamulla, Atanwala and Rathhinda. The first signs of the jumbos came about eight years ago according to the villagers. Dr. U.K.G.K. Padmalal head of the Zoology Department of the Open University who has done extensive research on the biodiversity of the area confirmed that these jumbos are from the outskirts of Wasgomuwa. When water and food become scarce there, they start moving to the Knuckles area. This is a seasonal movement and elephants penetrate the boundaries of Knuckles usually in July/August and go back to Wasgomuwa in November/December. These four months are thus a time of fear for villagers like in Walpolamulla, struggling to protect their crop and their lives from this new threat.

Sans crackers or other means to ward off the elephants, the villagers’ method of chasing away elephants is very primitive - they beat an empty can, as hard as they can to make a loud noise. These animals not being used to human interaction may retreat momentarily but will soon get used to this method, they fear.

Pinchi Amma recounts the close encounter.

Sanjeeva Kaviratne, MP of Matale district and an activist for the conservation of Knuckles is trying to find a solution for the villagers. “Places like Walpolamulla have to be preserved as part of our heritage. It is an ancient village that goes back to the Ravana era.

We are trying to re-establish Walpolamulla by providing safety to the villagers, ” he said, adding that they are discussing the possibilities of building an electric fence around the small village with authorities and experts in the field. This may be a workable solution considering the size of the village and the fact that elephants are in the area only for four months of the year.

“But the Morahakanda and Kalu ganga development projects may drive more elephants into the Knuckles area,” said Dr. Padmalal. He fears the proposed Moragahakanda reservoir and its catchments areas will disrupt the elephants’ traditional paths and more elephants will be trapped in this area. There are other villages located in the Knuckles’ border and any unplanned development will create another war front for the Human Elephant Conflict, he warns.

However, these debates are far removed from the Walpolamulla villagers. The last inhabitants of Walpolamulla were hesitant to move away from their ancestral grounds, but last week they bundled up their belongings to face the inevitable. Being descendantsof ancient warriors, they have not abandoned all hope.

Moving out with their belongings.

Though having lived through the terror of facing an angry wild elephant, Kapilaratne Banda was talking of going back to his village where all his ancestors have lived and died. “When Walpolamulla is safer, we would like to come back again,” he said, hope brightening his eyes.