Polo. Also known as the Game of Kings. Fast, and dangerous for horse and man, with 6 foot mallets being swung hard from the rider of a moving steed within inches of competitors. The thundering of hooves converging on a ball thats bullet fast when a mallet connects with it.
And then there is Elephant Polo. Massive in every way. Played in the lush valleys to the south of the towering Nepali Himalaya. Deeply textured grey-brown skin, limbs and flapping ears so large they seem to move in slow motion. Two riders perched high atop each mount, and like pilots of a lumbering freighter, guide the elephant slowly towards the ball.
The game is more like lawn bowling than conventional polo in pace. Accidents are rare, but when they happen, it’s usually the ball that suffers, crushed beneath the foot of one of the biggest but gentlest beasts on earth. Only once was an elephant reported to go on the rampage during a game. The Spanish team bus was destroyed, but not a soul was hurt.
Hitting a small plastic ball 12 feet beneath you is a tricky business. The players flail awkwardly while the elephants wait patiently, apparently tempted to pick up the ball with their trunks and help their team. But that’s against the rules.
The rules of conventional polo have been simplified - there is a goal at each end of the relatively small field - either will do for either team, that way there’s a chance of getting some points on the board and keeping the spectators awake.
While the foreigners’ understanding of the elephants may be minimal, each elephant has its own translator, someone that can span the void between man and beast. The Mahout has lived his life with the elephant. He talks to them, feeds them, washes them, gains comfort from the sound of their breath. The game’s go-between, the mahout roots this otherwise foreign phenomenon deeply into the colourful subsoil of Nepal.
Perhaps the most heart warming aspect of Elephant Polo, apart from the gentle intelligence of the elephants themselves, is the camaraderie of the players. The level of competition is low, the sense of community is strong, and the elephants are the star of this game, the scale and majesty of which make this perhaps one of the most impressive games on earth.
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Encompass Films specializes in adventure films. Traditionally we have viewed those to be adventure sports such as climbing, skiing, and cycling. But when Elephant Polo came to our attention we thought...now there's an adventurous sport! Would we love to go out there and make a short dynamic film about something that lies somewhere between the Gin & Tonic drinking crowd and a South Asian pastime. Something that very few people know about but many more should.
Contributors money will be used predominantly for travel, lodging, food, and payment to our primary camera man on the shoot. Additionally it will be used for our employing an assistant editor, graphic artist, and music licensing (because paying musicians for their invaluable contribution is important to us).
The film is intended for the international festival circuit and digital distribution where we hope to reach a minimum of 100,000 viewers in 2013.