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A Day with the Elephants @ Kodanad
Destination: Kochi
Day Breaks > Road Trips
 Elephant Bating @ Kodanad |  A Couple Enjoying the view |  Elephants brought down to the river |
|---|---|---|
 Mahouts and the Elephants |  Elephants entering Periyar RIver |  Kodanad Elephant Centre |
A day break with your kids to Kodanad Elephant Orphanage would be a great exposure to kids to interact with the elephants and the mahouts.
Kodanad is less than 50 Kilometers from Kochi. Start at 7:00 Am avoiding the traffic at Kochi and reach Kalady near the Cochin Airport. You follow the village roads with the support of the GPS navigation, until you reach the newly constructed Kodanad Bridge. You cross the bridge and follow the sign boards to reach Kodanad, a sleepy little village in the outskirts of Kochi.
Stop at Joseph Chetten’s coffee shop, mentioned in the GPS, for a hot cup of tea and he will update you the latest stories of orphaned elephants rescued from the forest, undergoing training at the Kodanad Elephant Rescue Centre. He will also let you know if the elephants have already cross the shop for a morning bath. If you reach there before 08:30 Am, there is a high chance that you could see the elephants walking right past you as you are enjoying the hot cup of tea. After you done with the tea, you could follow the elephants, as the mahouts leads them to the Periyar River for a morning bath.
It is amazing to see how man, can control such a mighty animal like elephant and train the animal to listen to him. You would also feel so good when you see the elephants being pampered as the mahouts bathe them at River Periyar. The view is amazing and you would have a great time as your family would be enjoying the experience. Once you are friendly with the mahouts, they will let you feel the elephants and even join them for bathing the beautiful creature.
After the interaction, you could head to the Kodanad Homestay for a nice traditional Kerala Breakfast with steaming Appams and Egg roast served to you right from the kitchen. You would be amazed to listen to the stories for foreigners coming here from far off countries on a regular basis to enjoy this experience.
After a sumptuous breakfast, you could go to the Elephant training Centre. You could also spend some time doing and elephant ride and interact with rest of the elephants at the orphanage. A day visit to Kodanad will be a relaxing one with your family and a great exposure to your kids to be close with nature and with the majestic elephants. You could either depart from the centre after half day or make it a full day experience by extending your trip to Thattekkad.
Thattekkad is known worldwide for the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary. You could head to the Hornbill Camp, where you could try a bit of kayaking at the river Periyar, do a plantation walk and bird watching with the naturalist and also a try cycling through the Thattekkad rain forest. You could opt for a day package at the camp where you would be offered a welcome drink on arrival, lunch and evening snacks. By end of the day, you would have spotted at least 50 birds of which some of them would be only found in this part of the world. By evening you could depart from Thattekkad and reach home before dark with a lot of refreshing memories from the day.