Bhopal: Forest officials of Madhya Pradesh are thrilled to have found one Michael Phelps of a jumbo who loves to swim long distances with ease and finesse that has taken them by surprise. Swimmer jumbo E-5 has pulled off a feat unusual even for an elephant, swimming 9.43km through the still, deep waters of Bansagar backwaters, almost the distance of a 10km marathon swim. The radio-collared tusker, which had entered Maihar 22 days ago after swimming across the reservoir, has now made the return journey the same way, charting a route that has left forest officials learning from the animal.E-5 entered the backwaters from Singhpur Barondha in Maihar on Monday night and swam towards an island, and after spending some time there, it resumed its journey and reached Jamni village in Beohari, Shahdol, on Tuesday morning, covering 9.43km in water in all.What makes the feat remarkable is the nature of the water. Bansagar backwaters are around 30-35 metres deep at places, and unlike a river, the reservoir has no current to carry an animal along. E-5 made the crossing alone, stopping only briefly on the island midway.“Today it has reached north Shahdol and is heading towards Bandhavgarh tiger reserve. It remained 22 days in Maihar district. It had crossed the backwaters of Bansagar dam and emerged at Puraina village. From Bandhavgarh it had reached north Shahdol forest division, then crossed waters and came here. It was something like first time for us. It is a learning for us, we are seeing it for the first time,” Maihar district forest officer Vidyabhushan Mishra told TOI.The jumbo first crossed the reservoir about 22 days ago, entering the waters near Deolond in Shahdol and emerging at Puraina village in Maihar’s Amarpatan range. It subsequently killed 50-year-old farmer Kanchhedi Yadav in Mauhari village and damaged houses, prompting intensive surveillance and rescue efforts. Six trained kumki elephants from Bandhavgarh were deployed to track and assist in its rescue.But E-5 had other plans. It kept moving through the Maihar landscape, even entering Ramnagar town on Sept 27, before turning towards the reservoir.“They are known to be swimmers, but they flow along with river flow, but crossing such a barrage, I have not read or heard such thing before. Even during return, it crossed it. Though it stopped at an island for some time but then went ahead,” Mishra said.Now back in north Shahdol, the jumbo is heading towards Bandhavgarh, having twice demonstrated that for this particular elephant, a dam is apparently not much of a barrier.
