China’s herd of wandering elephants finally on their way back home

After a time span of 17 months, China’s herd of wandering elephants appears to finally be heading home.

According to reports, the 14 Asian elephants of various sizes and ages were guided across the Yuanjiang river in Yunnan on Sunday night.

Also, a path was being made for them to return to the nature reserve in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.

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On Sunday night, the herd was spotted in Yuanjiang County, which is approximately 200km from the reserve.

The highlights of the elephants' trip included the birth of a calf in Pu’er in November andcausing more than 6.8m yuan ($1.07m) in damage, according to estimates by state broadcaster CGTN.

After leaving their nature reserve last year, the herd has travelled for over 500 kilometres across the Yunnan province in China.

They roamed around free through villages and large towns, alike.

Although this herd seems to be on a never-ending epic journey, a lone elephant, who broke away from the herd a month ago, was captured and returned to the home reserve recently, a CNN report said.

This elephant has travelled more than 190 kilometers on its own. It survived on food provided by local authorities and sometimes, foraging into villages.

As the 1.8-tonne male had lingered near populated areas and posed a risk to public safety, the authorities tranquilised and sent it to the reserve.

According to the Yunnan government, there were no external injuries on the elephant, who walked into the rainforest and took a dip in the river after being released.