A tribute to Joymala, the gentle giant of Kaziranga

Not every guardian carries a weapon, wears a uniform or receives a medal. Some spend an entire lifetime serving in silence, asking for neither recognition nor reward. Yet when they are gone, emptiness settles over the landscape they once protected. A few days back, Kaziranga National Park lost one such guardian. Joymala, one of India’s most distinguished patrol elephants, died at the age of 66 after more than three decades of dedicated service with the Assam Forest Department.Her passing marked not just the end of an elephant’s life, but the closing of a remarkable chapter in the enduring partnership between humans and elephants that has safeguarded forests for generations.Long before drones, GPS devices and thermal cameras entered the vocabulary of wildlife management, elephants were the forester’s most dependable companions. From the colonial era to the present day, trained camp elephants have formed an integral part of forest management across Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttarakhand and several other states. They have carried forest staff through dense forests, swamps, floodplains and steep hills where no vehicle could venture. They have tracked elusive wildlife, assisted in anti-poaching patrols, rescued stranded villagers and wild animals during floods, helped capture injured or rogue elephants for treatment, and transported supplies into inaccessible terrain.Their immense physical strength made them invaluable, but it was their intelligence, composure and uncanny ability to understand both humans and the forest that made them truly exceptional. Technology can never replace the trust forged over the years between a mahout, a forest guard and an elephant — a bond built not through commands, but through patience, affection and mutual confidence. Joymala represented the very best of this proud tradition. For 34 years, she carried generations of forest guards across the tall elephant grass and marshes of Kaziranga, silently becoming a partner in the protection of rhinos, tigers and elephants. To those who rode her, she was never merely a working animal. She was a trusted colleague whose instincts often sensed danger long before humans did.The world came to know of Joymala through a remarkable photograph taken in 2004. During a routine patrol, a tiger leapt dramatically over her back. The image became an international symbol of Kaziranga’s untamed wilderness. While the world admired the tiger’s daring, foresters admired something else — Joymala’s composure. She neither panicked nor bolted. She stood firm, allowing her riders to remain safe. That quiet courage defined her life.I was reminded of this remarkable quality during an unforgettable encounter in 2018 with a wild elephant family in Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park. As our safari vehicle stood motionless, a protective matriarch walked purposefully towards us. She gently inserted her trunk into the vehicle and examined each of us from barely a few inches away. We sat frozen, conscious that she possessed the strength to overturn the vehicle with effortless ease. Yet after satisfying herself that we posed no threat to her family, she quietly turned away and disappeared into the forest. That evening taught me a lesson no textbook on wildlife behaviour ever could. Elephants are not inherently aggressive; they are extraordinarily perceptive. They assess, they judge and, more often than not, they choose restraint over violence.Their immense strength is matched by remarkable emotional intelligence. Joymala, though a trained patrol elephant, possessed that same calm wisdom. When Joymala died, the Assam Forest Department accorded her a ceremonial Guard of Honour — an uncommon but deeply appropriate tribute. It acknowledged a simple truth: service knows no species. Joymala’s footprints may have disappeared from the grasslands of Kaziranga, but her legacy will continue to echo through every successful patrol and every rhino that survives because dedicated guardians, both human and animal, stood watch together.The forests will remain. New elephants will follow old trails, and the work of conservation will continue. Yet Joymala leaves behind something far more enduring than any monument of stone: a safer wilderness and a timeless reminder that the noblest service is often performed quietly, without applause.— The writer is a retired Indian Forest Service officer

A tribute to Joymala, the gentle giant of Kaziranga

One of India’s most distinguished patrol elephants died recently at the age of 66 after more than three decades of dedicated service with the Assam Forest Department

Padam Prakash Bhojvaid

A tribute to Joymala, the gentle giant of Kaziranga

One of India’s most distinguished patrol elephants died recently at the age of 66 after more than three decades of dedicated service with the Assam Forest Department

Padam Prakash Bhojvaid

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