Kodanad Elephant Training Centre
It was also the first elephant training center in Kerala started in 1895. The center covered an area of 2 acres and when the number of animals there kept increasing, all the animals were gradually relocated to Abhayaranyam, which has an area of 123 hectares.
Kodanad Elephant Sanctuary is an animal shelter mini zoo that functions under the eco-tourism project of the Government of Kerala. It was the first elephant training center in Kerala, started in 1895. Kodanad Elephant Training Center was one of the famous and largest elephant training center in Kerala. The most important feature of Kodanad is that, it is the only elephant rescue and training center in Kerala which is specialized for rescue and training.This special cover issued 06th December-2007, during Kerapex 2007 in Thiruvananthapuram.
Interesting facts about Kodanad Elephant Sanctuary
- This place is a popular picnic spot for both domestic and foreign tourists. It trains both adult and baby elephants from the forest areas of Kerala.
- The Elephant Sanctuary is situated on the southern bank of the Periyar River. This place is about 42 km east of Kochi city. Being away from the congested air of city life, Kodnad gives a healthy breath to the tourists.
- Kodanad is such a wonderful place, where tourists can enjoy the beautiful forests, elephant rescue center near the zoo and can reach the seasonal pilgrimage center of Malayattoor via river boats.
- Kodanad Anakkalari has well trained mahouts to train wild elephants. The mahouts are locally called pappans. There we can see Onnan Pappan and Randam Pappan, Onnam Pappan being the main mahout responsible for training the elephant, while Randam Pappan looks after the food and other needs of the elephants.
- Catching of elephants was banned in Kerala in the year 1970. Since then, Kodnad has been treated as an elephant sanctuary rather than an elephant training institute. There are more than 40 elephants in Kodanad Elephant Sanctuary.
