SRI LANKAN ELEPHANT DUNG PAPER

(pachyderm paper, meaning thick skinned animal)

Yes, this paper is made from exactly what it says. As you can imagine, the method is a little different to how our Nepali and Indian paper is made, but the process is exactly the same after the elephants have done their bit.

All handmade paper is made using a fibreous material, and is boiled and beaten to make the fibre pulp. With elephant dung paper, the elephant has done the pulping for us, leaving us to collect the dung, clean it by boiling and steaming so all bacteria are killed, then putting the pulp in a shallow mould as usual. The coarseness of the paper is entirely dependent on the elephants diet, again making no two sheets identical.

Maximus Conservation Trust

There is a more important side to our Elephant dung range though. The raw paper is bought, like all of our products, direct from the supplier. In this case this is the Maximus Conservation Trust. All profits from the making of the paper go directly back into the foundation which, at present, looks after 5 elderly elephants, and goes into developing relations between humans and elephants. Basically, as tourism and population grow, this is having adverse effects on elephant habitats with humans taking over traditional elephant paths. Humans then grow food which elephants eat, resulting in conflict. Maximus is paying villagers to collect elephant dung thus trying to get both parties to live together.

See our Sri Lankan Elephant Dung paper products.