A herd of at least 18 wild elephants strayed into a national highway, halting traffic on both sides of the road, in northern India's Uttarakhand.<br /><br />The incident took place along the National Highway 74 in Shyampur area of Haridwar city on June 15.<br /><br />The video shows the wild elephants walking near a muddy water body in the forest. Once there, the herd indulges in a mudbath, scooping the muddy water using their trunks and sprinkling it on their bodies.<br /><br />Meanwhile, forest officials were seen urging people to vacate the area in order to avoid a man-animal conflict and grant the elephants a safe passage to go back to the forest. The clip also showed traffic congestion on both sides of the road.<br /><br />The forest department officials started clearing the area and pushing people back from the spot to leave the elephants alone.<br /><br />According to sources, the elephants come out of the forests and cross the highway every morning.<br /><br />They are used to crossing the highway and walk into the forest on the opposite side.<br /><br />Sometimes they cross to drink water from the river Ganga while other times to bathe in the river.<br /><br />However, this is the only instance when the elephant stayed back next to the highway till afternoon.<br /><br />One of the officials said that they are trying to push back the elephant into the forest for their and other's safety.
