Elephant Training Center Konni

The primary focus of the trainers here is to deal with the development of baby elephants that have been separated from their herd or been found hurt somewhere. The trainers have traditional methods that have been passed down through generations to deal with these situations. The elephants are taught to obey specific commands and are taken for special exercise walks in the morning, are given baths and specific diets. The trainers here train the baby elephants which get separated from their herd, or are found wounded or roaming in the forest. Experienced trainers using their systematic training methods, tame the baby elephants.
The training centre has been very popular since the early 19th century. During those times, it was quite usual for large families, especially the royal families and temples to own elephants thereby an increased demand for tamed elephants. As a result, the elephants were captured from the dense forests of the Western Ghat Mountains and brought to Konni for training. The captured wild elephants are tamed and trained by the trainers along with the help of other tamed elephants and then passed over to the new owners.

Since the elephant capturing was legally stopped in 1977 by the government, the activities at the centre also declined since then. Rather than taming and training the caught elephants, it transitioned to a centre that does the same activities but only to wild elephants that were separated from the herds or those found in the forest wounded.
At the training centre, visitors are allowed to have a closer look at the elephants and understand their behaviour. It is fun to watch the playfulness of the younger ones and also it is possible to ride on the bigger elephants. The elephant riding is limited to only a few times in a day so only if you can reach in the morning you will be able to do that.
An elephant museum containing the skeleton of a tusker and an eco store to buy medicinal and forest goods are also present at the centre. There are plans to convert the elephant museum to a complete natural history museum based on elephants.
    Getting there
Nearest railway station: Chengannur Railway Station, about 33 km
Nearest airport: Trivandrum International Airport, about 100 km
Google map coordinates: 6RJV+QM Konni, Kerala