Elephant Sanctuary at Punnathur Kotta, Kerala

Do you know that there’s an Elephant Sanctuary right in Guruvayur , Kerala, India. Punnathurkotta Elephant Sanctuary is located about 3 kms north of Guruvayur temple and is the ancient palace of the Punnathur Rajas.  Maintained by Guruvayur Devaswom, it is the only one of its kind in the world.

Visiting time is restricted from 9.00 AM to 5.00 PM . The entry fees are Rs. 10/- per adult & Rs. 5/- for children.  An extra Rs. 25/- is charged for a camera. Visitors are advised to follow the rules written on the board placed near the entrance. 

This 10 acre compound houses 56 elephants and are ritual offerings made by the devotees of Lord Guruvayurappa. Once known as Punnathurkotta, this palace ground has been renamed as Anakkotta (meaning "Elephant Fort").

Elephants of different nature are seen here. Some of them are silent and gentle but a few of  them have a very tough character. They all have names as well as identities. Some of them are Guruvayur Kesavan , Guruvayur Padmanabhan etc...

There is giant pond, where the elephants are taken for bath, spraying themselves with giant jets of water from their trunks.

The camp also acts as a training school for the elephants.

The elephants feed mainly on palm tree leaves. It was nice to see how the black beauties are taken care of and fed. Each of them are tied by chain and those with tough characters have an extra chain.

Some elephants were seen spraying themselves with loose mud.

  

The compound also has a naalu kettu, a traditional rectangular home with a central courtyard, which belonged to the Punnathur Raja. It  presently houses a training school for Papans (Mahouts). This complex also contains a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and Bhagavathy.

This building has also been a shooting spot for many Malayalam movies.

Here, you get an opportunity to watch more than 50 elephants. You can enjoy watching elephants bathing, tilting their heads and trunks, and making all sorts of activities. This will be definitely a fun filled picnic for you.