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"In
1989,
our
friend
Mark
Shand,
with
Aditya
Patankar
purchased
Tara
in
South
Orissa.
She
was
in
very
poor
shape
and
a
begging
elephant
used
to
scrounging
from
various
villages
and
so
forth.
Mark
Shand
then
rode
her,
very
gently
for
several
hundreds
of
miles
to
the
Sonepur
Mela
north
of
Patna
in
Bihar,
which
is
held
annually
as
the
largest
elephant
fair
in
the
country.
Of
course
he
was
accompanied
by
a
jeep-load
of
stores
and
delicacies,
together
with
Aditya
and
a
mahout!
His
subsequent
publication
'Travels
on
my
Elephant'
became
a
best
seller.
At
Sonepur,
Mark,
in
his
dhoti,
set
up
his
tent
with
the
Union
Jack
outside,
prepared
to
sell
Tara
to
the
highest
bidder.
He
received
a
number
of
offers
since
she
is
such
a
docile
creature
amongst
many
other
rather
difficult
elephants
on
sale.
He
was
the
approached
by
Anne
and
Belinda
Wright
who
were
visiting
Sonepur
to
purchase
a
pachyderm
for
Kipling
Camp;
having
known
them
previously,
Mark
decided
that
he
would
prefer
Tara
to
have
a
happy
home
in
Madhya
Pradesh
rather
than
continue
life
as
a
begging
elephant.
She
was
accordingly
donated
personally
to Bob
Wright
and
there
followed
a
certain
amount
of
problems
persuading
her
to
board
a
truck
for
the
lengthy
drive
to
Kanha.
She
eventually
arrived,
and
has
spent
the
past
14
years
or
so
at
Kipling
Camp,
where
she
is
an
absolute
gem,
very
popular
with
so
many
guests,
who
greatly
enjoy
assisting
in
her
afternoon
bathing
in
the
river
Banjar,
and
carrying
guests
around
the
Buffer
Zone
of
the
Tiger
Reserve,
viewing
wildlife.
She
has
recently
had
an
enormous
'Palace'
constructed
for
her
to
replace
two
which
she
had
previously
pulled
down!"
.....
Bob
Wright,
(October
2003)
More
pictures
of
Tara
>>
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Have
you
ever
shared
your
"bath"
with
an
elephant?
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You
can
do
that
at
Kipling
Camp!
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Bathing
Tara at the Banjar River
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Guests
go on a picnic with Tara
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