Day Trip To Elephant Sanctuary

Kodanad is a beautiful rural riverside village and a popular day picnic spot with a major elephant rescue and care centre.

Kodanad is the only elephant rescue and training centre in Kerala specialised for rescuing and training stranded baby elephants from the forest regions across Kerala. Kodanad also offers elephant safari to visitors. Elephants are made ready with a specially constructed wooden saddle on top, designed to make the riding comfortable and safe. At Kodanad, the old 'Kraal' is still maintained and is still used to house elephants. The Kraal is a tall structure made of wood compartments which can accommodate up to 4 elephants. The 'mini zoo' shelters wild animals which have become unfit for survival in the local forest and some inmates of the zoo are very rare species.

In 1950-60s, Kodanad used to be the largest of several elephant training centres for captured Elephants from the Malayattoor forests and the adjoining forests. They were trained using Mahouts, specially skilled people also known as Paappan in Malayalam language. In 1970s, there was a ban to elephant capture by Government of India and from then on, Kodanad is primarily used as a rescue training centre.

Watching baby elephants at their infancy and various stages of their growth has become a unique feature that attracts visitors to Kodanad. At least four to six baby elephants are brought in and trained every year. Tourists arrive at Kodanad fascinated by baby elephant's various stages of development at the Care centre. Training plays an important role for elephants while their brains develop and they learn vital survival and cultural knowledge. The baby elephants at Kodanad are owned and taken care by the Department of Forest. Once they become adults, someone buy them out in auctions. In Kerala, elephants are used for a variety of traditional jobs such as timber loading & wood moving, or as temple elephants for religious Hindu festivals & events.

Start by 08:00 am and Comeback by 05:00 pm.
The Car or mini bus will pick you from the respective location and will drop you back.