The walkie-talkie crackled without pause.
“Single makhana elephant spotted… ADS team drove it for two kilometres.”
The message came barely minutes after our patrol began at 9.30 pm in Gudalur. Over the next seven-and-a-half hours, the wireless network would relay a relentless stream of alerts - tuskers near tea estates, herds crossing roads, elephants moving towards labour lines and villages, and rapid response teams scrambling to intercept them before disaster struck.
By the time the patrol ended at 5 am, it became clear that Gudalur’s frontline forest staff were not merely tracking elephants. They are trying to keep the peace between two species forced to share an increasingly fragmented landscape.
As southwest monsoon clouds begin gathering over the Nilgiris, Gudalur is entering what officials describe as the peak elephant migration season. This year, however, is different. It will be the first full migration season after the establishment of Tamil Nadu’s AI-enabled Command and Control Centre (CCC), a ₹6-crore technology-driven system designed to predict elephant movements and reduce conflict. The coming months will be the first real test of whether technology can make one of India’s most conflict-prone elephant landscapes safer for both people and wildlife.
A landscape built for conflict
Gudalur sits at the junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. It is also a critical elephant corridor linking Mudumalai Tiger Reserve with the forests of Nilambur and Silent Valley. Over decades, forests have been fragmented by tea, coffee and spice plantations, roads, labour settlements and expanding human habitation. Today, elephants move through a mosaic of estates, villages and reserve forests. The O’Valley corridor alone passes through 31 villages and more than 2,500 households and experiences peak elephant movement during the southwest monsoon.
Former Gudalur DFO and current deputy director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Venkatesh Prabhu, has often described Gudalur as a landscape where coexistence is unavoidable.
“Unlike many protected areas, elephants here move through densely populated human habitations and plantations. The challenge is not preventing elephant movement but making that movement safer for people and elephants,” he said. That challenge played out repeatedly during the night patrol.
A night without rest
At Palamedu, teams waited for a solitary makhana elephant that had already been driven two kilometres earlier in the evening. In Cherambadi range, another message came in around midnight. A makhana had entered a conflict-prone area. Teams mobilised immediately.
Near Thondiyalam bus stand, patrol staff found an intoxicated man sleeping beside the road with earphones plugged in. Forest staff woke him up and moved him to safety.
The concern was real. The notorious elephant PT-12, known for aggressive behaviour and attacks on people and vehicles, was believed to be moving through the area.
A few hours later, another alert reported a large herd splitting near Chinna Kolapalli. Such situations are particularly dangerous because separated groups often move unpredictably through settlements and plantations. Around 3 am, a makhana crossed the national highway near Fourth Mile in Gudalur.
By dawn, the Alpha-1 patrol team in O’Valley alone had successfully driven six elephants away from vulnerable human habitations into safer forested areas. These operations happen every night, said forest range officer M Megala, who was on night patrol duty. Across Gudalur Division, 16 anti-depredation squads operate in six forest ranges. In Bitherkad alone, seven teams are deployed during high-conflict periods.
Lives at stake
The urgency behind these patrols is evident in the numbers.
Gudalur Forest Division recorded 23 human deaths, 69 injuries, 262 livestock depredation cases, 387 crop damage incidents and 260 property damage cases over the last three years. From 2015 till date, close to hundred people lost their lives and around 60 elephants died, of which many died due to eletrocution.
This year has been particularly grim. Seven people have already lost their lives in elephant attacks in Gudalur Division between January and June 2026. Victims included 14-year-old Mishab of Pakkana in Bitherkad range, who was killed on May 26. Following the incident, kumki elephants Vijay and Krishna were stationed in the area as a precautionary measure. The memory of the tragedy still lingers among frontline staff.
Every alert that comes through the wireless network carries the possibility of preventing another death.
The AI experiment
Inside the newly established Command and Control Centre at Nadugani, technology has become a new ally in the battle against conflict. The system combines 12 advanced Edge-AI camera units and dozens of additional monitoring cameras, integrated communication systems, drones, radio-collared elephants and village alert networks. The cameras identify elephant movement in real time and transmit alerts to the control room and field teams.
Officials said more than 500 elephant movement alerts have already been generated between January and June this year, allowing rapid deployment of response teams before elephants reach vulnerable settlements.
Secretary to Environment, Climate Change and Forests department Supriya Sahu said the objective is to move from reactive responses to predictive conflict management.
“The Command and Control Centre represents a major shift towards technology-driven conservation. Real-time monitoring, AI-based detection and rapid communication systems will help save human lives while ensuring safer movement for elephants,” she said. Gudalur DFO Devaraj said the system is intended to complement, not replace, field staff. “Technology can tell us where elephants are, but it is the frontline teams that respond on the ground. Their local knowledge, experience and quick action remain critical. This monsoon season will be an important test because this is when elephant movement peaks across Gudalur,” he said.
The peacekeepers
Despite the technology, the real story of Gudalur lies with the men on the ground.
Throughout the night, patrol teams walked dark roads, monitored plantations, coordinated through wireless sets and gently pushed elephants away from villages.
Most residents never see these operations. They sleep while forest guards, watchers and anti-depredation squads spend their nights navigating uncertainty, often standing just metres away from wild elephants.
Chief Wildlife Warden Rakesh Kumar Dogra acknowledges that frontline staff are often burnt out and put their lives at risk. Mudumalai tiger reserve field director R Kiruba Shankar describes the Gudalur as a “war zone”. As dawn broke over the mist-covered tea estates, another shift was preparing to take over. The migration season is only beginning. Herds will continue moving through Gudalur’s narrow corridors, crossing highways, estates and settlements in search of food and habitat.
Whether the AI-enabled command centre succeeds will become evident in the months ahead. While the technology may provide the eyes and ears, yet Gudalur’s first line of defence remains the human beings behind the walkie-talkies. The quiet peacekeepers working through the night to prevent a deadly collision between people and elephants.