“Walk  with  the  Giants”  Brings  Community  Together  for  a  Walk  with

Renowned Conservationist Dr. Kamal Bawa

Legacy 250 presents an August 30 gathering connecting elephants, conservation, India, and nearly 250 years of U.S.–India ties

 

This Sunday, a herd of life-sized elephants will provide the setting for an unusual community conversation about conservation, culture, and the long relationship between India and the United States.

Legacy 250 will present “Walk with the Giants” on August 30, featuring a walking talk with internationally renowned conservation biologist Dr. Kamal Bawa among the elephant sculptures of The Great Elephant Migration.

Dr. Bawa is co-founder of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston. As he walks with participants among the spectacular sculptures, he will share insights into biodiversity, conservation, human-wildlife coexistence, and the environmental challenges facing India and the world.

The elephants themselves tell an extraordinary conservation story.

Created by artisans in India, the life-sized sculptures are crafted from lantana, an invasive plant that has spread extensively through Indian forests, threatening native vegetation and wildlife habitats. The story behind the lantana elephants reaches back decades. ATREE has worked with Soliga communities in southern India to address the spread of invasive lantana while creating sustainable livelihood opportunities through lantana craft.

The sculptures are part of The Great Elephant Migration, a global public-art and conservation initiative delivered by Elephant Family USA. Created in collaboration with The Real Elephant Collective, the project draws on extensive on-the-ground research by The Shola Trust into individual elephants, their personalities, and the communities with whom they share space. Each sculpture represents a real wild elephant from southern India, bringing its personality and story to audiences thousands of miles away.

“Walking among these elephants offers a powerful reminder that conservation is ultimately about the relationship between people, communities, and the natural world,” said Andy Kalambi, chairperson of ATREE USA. “We hope this experience inspires people—especially young people—to see that protecting biodiversity can also strengthen livelihoods and build connections across cultures.”

For Legacy 250, the gathering also connects the elephants of today with a fascinating but little-known chapter of American history: the arrival in 1796 of the first elephant brought to the United States from India, during the early years of the American republic.

More than two centuries later, elephants from India have once again captured the American imagination—but this time they arrive as ambassadors for biodiversity, conservation, and peaceful coexistence between people and wildlife.

“There is something wonderfully symbolic about this story,” said Kanchan Banerjee, founder and convenor of Legacy 250. “An invasive plant from the forests of India is transformed by Indian artisans into magnificent elephants, which then travel across America carrying a message of conservation. And as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, these elephants also remind us that connections between India and America reach back to the earliest years of the United States.”

“Walk with the Giants” is designed as an engaging family and community experience, particularly for children, students, and young adults. Participants will have the unusual opportunity to walk among the elephants while hearing directly from one of the world’s leading conservation scientists about biodiversity and the responsibility we share to protect the natural world for future generations.