A few days ago, regular New Mandala contributor Aiontay asked about the tusks at the Manau ground at Laiza, the Kachin Independence Army/Kachin Independence Organisation stronghold along the Sino-Burmese border. While I don’t have any further information on the tusks I do have a close-up taken a few years ago.

Manau tusks at Laiza, photo taken 2006: Nicholas Farrelly

As an aside, the towers that are (barely) visible on the line of hills in the background belong to Chinese mobile phone companies. Unlike people in many other parts of Burma, citizens of Laiza usually have reliable access to telecommunications technology at a reasonable price.