Kodanad Elephant Rescue and Training Center, Kerala
Kodanad used to be one of the largest elephant capturing centers in South India. In 1977, government of India, banned elephant capturing and since then it functions as a elephant rescue and training center.
Kodanad is located on the bank of river Periyar around 45 km from Cochin. We reached there early morning to watch elephant bathing in river Periyar by the mahouts. In fact one must reach there before 9 am. If you would like to give bath to the elephant and take pictures while the elephant giving some pose, the mahout expects some tips (Rs 50).
The training center is located nearby and also houses a zoo featuring others animals. The zoo is in bad condition. We saw peacock, duck, sambar, orangutan, Crocodile, owl, python and monkeys. It was little surprising to see even monkeys has been caged. Clearly from the picture below you can see that they are not at all happy. I think we should do away with small caged zoos and introduce parks with natural habitats for animals like Pilikula park in Mangalore.
At the training center one can go for elephant ride but it might be little costly.
Entry fees to the zoo and training center: Rs 2 per person
Camera fees: Rs 25
To reach there local buses are available from Ernakulam main bus stand but hired vehicle would be a good mode of transport.
For more pictures visit: Travelingbeats Photo Gallery.