In pictures: Herd of elephants' mystery 400 km hike continues in China

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A herd of 15 wild Asian elephants are continuing their long journey from their forest home in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

They started marching north and so far they have covered 400 km. They are now within 20 km of the provincial capital of Kunming, which is set to hold a UN Biodiversity Conference in October.

The elephants' progress is being closely monitored.

They have had to pass over man-made objects, like this irrigation channel.

Unfortunately one of the smaller members of the group, failed to get across.

They had to be rescued and pushed out by one of the larger members of the group.

Their progress can be monitored at night, which is when they do most of their traveling.

The elephants have passed through villages and towns along the way.

But when they've decided to go into houses or barns, they've left quite a trail of damage.

We're not sure what they make of the cable car - or what people traveling on it made of the elephant appearing just below them.

Drones have been deployed by local authorities to monitor their migration and fire trucks are used to keep them out of populated city center areas to avoid encounters between residents and the elephants.

There were originally 17 elephants that left the nature reserve, but two gained access to alcohol at a villager's home and the pair decided to head back.

However, what made these endangered animals leave their habitat and march north is still a mystery. The suggestion is that they are on the search for food and have become bolder as they have discovered there can be food supplies in and around human settlements.

Watch Ma Ke's full report for CGTN Europe:

02:38

Measures to keep elephants away from residential areas

Video: Elephants head down a city highway

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