Elephant sighting in Munnar

Elephant sighting in Munnar is very common in most parts of the dense forests in Munnar, part of the Western Ghats. It was when the Scotts and the British introduced Tea plantations in a large scale that the trees were cut and most of them were exported overseas and were used to build ships and furniture. Elephant the state animal of Kerala is abundant in the forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala. The Elephant were under severe threat when poaching was in large scale in these forest of the ivory, of which more of them were smuggled and exported. By due course of the govt. initiatives brought deforestation and poaching to a stand still, but by that time most of the harm was already done. Today the land is recovering from the most deadliest of the problems – deforestation and poaching.

At Ela Ecoland, we focus of being a eco friendly Nature Retreat where we promote being eco friendly and of course our place is home to lot of other wild beings and birds. Eighteen Kilometers from our place, is a place called Anakulam, a serene beautiful place merged along with reserved forests of Idukki disctict of Kerala. The Anakulam has a river flowing by between lot of rolling stones. When we go close by at a particular area on the river, you could see bubbles coming out of the river. There is some spring effect happening here, locals say that it is salty spring, however it is not yet scientifically proven. During the day and night herds of Elephants come down from the forest to the Anakulam river to drink this particular water that comes out form the spring. Each elephant spends almost 15 – 20 minutes drinking the water, the take turn by turn for the next bath of Elephants to come out from the forest. This is an exciting episode to watch herds of Elephants coming out form the forests to drink water. This happens just across the river at the village of Anakulam.

This is one of the sure sighting of elephants in Munnar. Most of these happen during the summer, locals say elephant dont come all the days but could be seen on most days. There is volley ball court next to the river, as per the rule of the forest department, they players are supposed to stop the game and back back for the Elephants to feel safe there. At Ela Ecoland, we be in touch with the forest guards at Anakulam and inform our guests about the Elephant arrival, it takes around 40 minutes to reach Anakulam from Ela Ecoland Nature Retreat.