Thousands of visitors on March 13 gathered at the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak’s Buon Don District to see a race by local elephants.
This is part of Buon Don Ethnic Cultural Festival held in Krong Na Commune to pray for good crops and prosperity.
The elephants gathered at the festival
At the event, elephants showed off their strength and skills in running, playing football and swimming across Serepok River.
In the race, 18 elephants representing 18 local ethnic minorities groups were divided into three teams to complete in the qualifying round and after that the six best were selected for the final round.
The football match saw the participation of eight elephants divided into two teams for the 20-minute competition.
After the race, the elephants were taken to the commune’s cultural house for attending a ceremony to pray for good health.
Dak Lak Province is dubbed as the home of tamed elephants. However, the number of the animals has declined sharply from 502 in 1985 to 84 in 2000 and fewer than 60 in 2010.
The elephants swimming across Serepok River