"We are the saviours of the forest for thousands of years; the forest is our home", states Sushila and Sundari, Kurumbar women, as they traverse the slopy hills looking for medicinal plants. Often considered hunter-gatherers, the indigenous communities of Western Ghats also had rich agricultural practices which adhered to the law of nature. Their ancestors existed as an integral part of the forests for thousands of years.

Bommi is one of the oldest people in the Kannam Palli village of the Kattunayakar community. With her immense wisdom about the surrounding forest, she would gracefully walk the nearby wetlands barefoot, collecting plants for cooking and medicine. "Aren't you scared of animals?", "No, before entering the deep forest or thick foliage, I would say to myself, let me mind my own business while the animal does its." Bommis' ancestors roamed the forests freely for thousands of years.

Habitat loss started with the European colonisation and the introduction of cash crops like tea and rubber in Tamil Nadu, where large areas of forests were cleared, and many invasive species were brought in for firewood. Loss of forest cover continued with the population rise, and new developmental projects in modern independent India created forest patches for which animals and humans competed.

A herd of elephants visiting a tea estate at Valparai region in Tamil Nadu, while the estate workers look down from the hills above. Human-elephant interactions are becoming much more commoner in recent years.

Nightfall covers the endless array of plantations, villages and remaining forest patches of the O'Valley region in Tamil Nadu, an important elephant corridor. Fragmentations of the forest cover interfere with the elephant corridors, the ancient routes followed by the elephant herds to move from one region to another, looking for food, water and mates. The maps of these corridors are passed on by generations and ingrained in the ancient memory system of elephants. They still follow these paths, many of them now converted to human habitats, leading to human-elephant conflicts.

At the start of another usual night at O'Valley, just around 30 meters from their home, an elephant grabbed Kunchani when returning from the mosque with his wife, Mumtaj. Mumtaj immediately pushed him to the side to save him and, in the process, was crushed and killed by the elephant. Mumtaj survived by her husband, Kunchani and two sons.

Yoga, 44yrs, sobbing while sharing stories about the beautiful life she shared with her late husband, Nathan. Nathan, 52yrs was killed by an elephant around noon while walking through the forest for work. Elephant attacks, once common in the dark, are also starting to happen in daylight.

Krishnamoorthy, 23yrs, is standing with his uncles Periyasami and Ravichandran. His mother, Rajakumari, a tea estate worker in O'Valley, died in 2022 from an elephant attack while collecting firewood. He had already lost his father and sister at a young age.

Streams are drying up rapidly due to climate change, habitat loss, and development projects like mono-crop plantations and mining. Western ghats contribute around 30-50% of the total water usage in Tamil Nadu. Millions of people will get affected when small streams like this finally get dried up. The lack of water resources also contributes to human-animal conflicts due to animals approaching villages looking for food sources.

Rajan, a Kattunayakar man, revisits Kannam Palli village, where wild elephants destroyed his home and many others a few years back. "The seasons are changing, and elephants don't get many fruits in the wild now; they like the banana and jackfruit trees at our homes, and now they are coming here looking for it", says Rajan. We always lived in the forest and have never seen this happening in the past.

Tea estate workers prepare to return to the field after a short lunch break. Fluctuating international tea trade, increasing costs, and poor margins have caused the closing down of tea estates. Many of these estates are now changing into forests through passive reforestation and natural means. The closing down of tea estates which once acted as a barrier between estate settlements and the forests, led to the elephants coming even closer to the human settlements creating increasing conflict—combined effects of these causing havoc in the lives of thousands of people living in the region.

Mani, a Malasar tribesman tending to Kaleem, the infamous Kumki elephant in the Kozhikamuthi elephant camp at Topslip in Tamil Nadu, India. Malasar tribes are experts in handling and training these Kumkis. Having had 99 successful missions under his belt and often hailed as one of the best Kumki elephants in India, Kaleem just retired from its service in 2023 at the age of 60.

Chinnathambi, a Kumki elephant splashing the water during an evening bathing session besides its carer. Capturing or chasing away rogue elephants is one of the methods used by the forest department to alleviate human-elephant conflict. Kumkis are well-trained elephants in captivity and, due to their ability to control wild elephants, are among the first to be deployed to handle human-elephant conflict situations in the hopes of alleviating harm to both humans and elephants.

Ragu, a Kurumbar man, observes the beehive at the tree above him. "We don't know when it will rain or not; it has changed in recent years; the hive above could be one of the last few tree hives for this season", he states. Well known for their master skill in the honey collection, the Kurumba indigenous people are now worried about the natural wild honey production. Increasing unpredictable weather patterns affect the flowering and, in turn, reduce the productivity of the remaining forest patches, one of the reasons for elephants wandering around the human settlements looking for food.

"Elephant attacks are common in our villages. We mostly stay indoors after nightfall", states Jaya, a Paniya villager belonging to one of the most underprivileged indigenous groups in Tamil Nadu, India

Maadhi, a betta Kurumbar woman, is roaming around the buffer zone at Mudumalai tiger reserve looking for firewood. Her ancestral settlements used to share this land, a vital elephant corridor, for centuries with wild elephants and tigers harmoniously. However, now she is worried about a potential eviction from her lands as part of the proposal to reclaim the corridor for elephants. But she has nowhere to go. There is an increasing interest in conserving existing elephant corridors and reclaiming lands that were once parts of corridors across western ghats to facilitate elephants' easy movement and their conservation and also to minimise human-elephant conflicts.

With increasing conservation awareness in the face of the global climate change crisis, there is an increasing interest in reclaiming once-lost forest spaces for reforestation. A herd of elephants frequents Tan Tea estate, one of the first tea plantations to be opened by the Tamil Nadu government and the first to be closed down soon in the hopes of bringing back the native forest.

A group of women from the Betta Kurumbar village performing an ancient ritual dance. The older women in these villages are vital in transferring knowledge and traditions to the younger generation. The ancient wisdom passed through generations that sustainably harnessed the power of nature is essential to the earth's survival and to mitigating the climate change crisis. Loss of connection to the forest will dent this vital knowledge system. Conservation models, including indigenous knowledge systems, will be a viable solution to the barriers of modern conservation practices for the harmonious living of humans and elephants.