To the Elephant Graveyard

I had several reasons for wanting to read this book. I love elephants, and drink in anything I can learn about them - especially how they live in their natural habitats. Second, the action of this book - a true story that reads like an adventure novel - takes place in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. My father spent part of WWII serving the U.S. Army Air Corps in Assam, so that part of the world has always held a certain level of intrigue for me.I was initially concerned when I learned that journalist Tarquin Hall had written a book telling the story of a legendary elephant hunter. I have a particular disdain for those who hunt endangered species, especially elephants, so I was not sure how I would feel about the hunter who is on center stage of this narrative. I quickly learned that Dnesh Choudhury, the most acclaimed of all of India's elephant hunters, loves and reveres elephants. He only agrees to hunt those who have proven to be a significant danger to villagers. Such was the case of a rogue elephant who had murdered several villagers in remote locations. Author Hall persuaded Mr. Choudhury to take him along on the perilous trek to find and kill the rampaging rogue bull elephant.The resulting account of their travels and adventures is told in cinematic prose, offering clear descriptions of actions and the motivations that undergirded them. It is a tale of government officials, hunters, mahouts, terrified villagers, and journalists who pit themselves against an elephant who had been driven mad by abuse at the hands of a prior owner. The story includes incidents of near misses, treks through lush forests and jungles, encounters with villagers and farmers, and an introduction into the small world of mahouts - those who train and handle elephants as a life's calling.The result is a very readable book that has all the earmarks of a classic. Reading it has deepened my appreciation for elephants and those who strive to provide a balance between protecting their shrinking habitats while also protecting those they sometime endanger.Enjoy.

This book is about more than the hunting and killing of a rogue elephant. Hall uses his trek through Assam to expound on Assamese culture and the adverse effects of colonialism and the tea trade, the ongoing depredation of the rainforest, endless political conflict and corruption in India, and the fragile relationship between tame Asian elephants and their handlers...among other things. It is as much about the death of a way of life as it is about pachyderms.Although he is surprisingly obtuse on occasion, and perhaps not always the most likable fellow, Hall is an adept writer. His visual descriptions are especially skilled, but he doesn't leave out the sounds, the smells, or the feel of things on his skin. He shows restraint in not make himself the center of the story. This is, thankfully, neither a tale of personal epiphany nor a self-aggrandizing "Adventures in Assam" travel book. Hall was invited on the elephant hunt as a journalist, and he strays little from that role. I forgave him the odd grumble or whine.The author does drop a few racially insensitive comments (saying, for instance, that one fellow looks like an American Indian without the warpaint), which may rankle some readers. I found, too, a clumsy error that the editor should have axed. But given that I am unlikely to see Assam myself, I was happy to travel for a time with Hall on the back of an elephant, even though the picture he paints of that part of the world is a sad one. We need to know these things.(For the sensitive: I am a vegetarian animal advocate, and so was initially reluctant to read a book about a man executing a rogue elephant. I'm glad to report that the killing is handled with dignity and regret. The elephant is mourned. What I do have trouble with is Hall's uncritical-- and incomplete -- telling of how wild elephants were traditionally caught and "tamed". It is a horribly cruel business, involving chaining the animal to a stump and withholding food and water to "break" him. To go into this more would be to spoil the arc of the story, but suffice it to say from my perspective the mahout-elephant relationship is tainted. Hall takes a different view.There is one photo in the book that I found extremly disturbing. It shows the hunting group posing -- with their tame elephants-- behind the dead rogue. One of the tame elephants is reaching its trunk over to investigate the head of its dead bretheren. It says something about Hall that this is not mentioned in the caption.)

I happened across this book just after booking a trip to Arunachal Pradesh. When I originally submitted this review is was with the thought that 'I will tread the forest and mountain trails with an extra sense of expectation that just maybe I will glimpse some of Mr Hall's elephants retreating from the lowlands of Assam to hills of Arunachal'. Man proposes, God disposes, I had to cancel my trip on the eve of departure due to critical family illness. My experience of this area therefore remains that so evocatively created by the author in this book. This is a great read, about the elephants of Arunachal, threatened by human encroachment on their world. The book is immensely readable, not to be missed.

Bought this as a present for my mother who is travelling to this part of India - she loved it and bought more by the author. She is there now so I do not know how it compares to her trip but a jolly good read apparently.

The author has a wonderful and captivating style of writing. I could not stop reading this book. I initially borrowed it from the library and then had to own a copy

an interesting account of the problem of rogue elephants sensitively written.I have read with pleasure his detective novels and eagerly await more

the book is exquisitely written, the subject is very interesting and intriguing, I couldn't stop reading it...I do reccomend this book