Sakrebail, The Elephant camp

Every time we drive to our native( Udupi, Kundapur) we usually pass through Shimoga. My children regularly complain about not stopping by to see the the Sakrebail elephant camp or the lion safari.

While deciding on what to do in 10 days of Christmas vacation, we decided on Shimoga. It is about 270 KM from Bangalore, Karnataka. There are many places of interest(small comparing the number of tourists visits) near Shimoga apart from the coffee estates and areca nut plantations.

Sakrebail elephant camp is located about 11 kms from Shimoga town and it takes about 15 min drive to reach there. Whenever we mention the word TRIP my children would expect to stay  in a luxury hotel. We stayed at The Royal Orchids hotel in Shimoga. After having royal breakfast we set out to the camp. We were happy to see that only few people had arrived and only one elephant was in the water which is the back water of the Gajanur dam.

The specialty of this place is that they bring elephants from the jungle and you can give them bath, pose with them, talk to them and know all you have to know about the Asian elephants. The whole ritual starts as early as 7:30 AM and if you are late you may miss everything.

 

These elephants are bought from the nearby Shettihalli forest. The camp elephants have a chain tied in the legs, so that the mahouts can trace them and bring into the camp early in the morning. There also days when they do not find their respective elephants. After giving them the bath, they are fed and left back from into the forest for grazing. One mahout was TRAINING an elephant to raise and sit, for the people to ride on him. So people, soon you can expect elephant ride in there.

 

We could take a close picture of the elephant's mouth. The mahout explained that if the teeth are well then the elephant is considered to be healthy and it lives a longer life.

 

This baby elephant was just 1 and half months old and was clinging to its parents. While in water it was just behaving naughty not knowing what to expect outside in the world. My children were just curious about this baby elephant 'Parvathi' and following it's movements very keenly.

 

We saw around 20 elephants in the camp and around 9:30 AM they all had finished bathing and were left under the sun.

Soon after finishing we headed towards the Tyavarekoppa Lion and Tiger Safari. This is again 15 minutes drive on the Sagar road. Here you can expect 3 lions, 6 tigers apart from other animals like sloth bear , cheetahs, jackals. Lions, tigers and few deers were only the animals available in the safari, rest of the animals are caged.

So if you are in the mood of long drive with something to do with animals[And in the state of Karnataka] head to sleepy town of  Shimoga.