If you are at Guruvayoor next time, do not miss an opportunity to visit Punnathur Kotta, the elephant sanctuary maintained by the Guruvayoor Devaswom, the temple trust. It is just about 3 kms from the Guruvayoor Krishna temple, located in Thrissur district in Kerala. It is where the temple maintains the various elephants belonging to the temple. There are about 60 elephants in the sanctuary...yes, you heard it right..60 elephants. It is definitely worth a visit just for the numbers at least.
It is not a sanctuary in the strictest sense of the word. The place is neither a forest area nor do elephants roam around freely. Yet, the place has a charm about it with jumbos all around. The elephants are placed well apart from each other and a nice walk-around has been created for visitors to go around and witness the biggies on either side. Needless to say, the elephants are chained. Although, that is not that the best way to see the elephants, I guess considering the safety of visitors, that is the ideal solution.
As you keep walking along the pathway, you never get a feel, elephant is just an elephant, whether it is one or sixty of them. Each elephant has something unique to offer that you want to capture every little act that each one engages in. There is an old saying that one never gets bored looking at a moon, sea, sky, new born child and elephant. It is said that they continuously keep offering interesting sights for one to remain bespectacled. How true?
At Punnathur Kotta, even after coming through a full round looking at all the elephants, one is not going to feel saturated and there is always an appetite to view more of the big beast. They are of various sizes, shapes and temperament. Some keep moving along, some are happy staying still; some look intensely at you while some just do not bother about your existence. All in all, a paisa vasool and definitely a worthy experience.
They give you enough background for a variety of poses. Interestingly, some elephants are specifically marked as being in the state of masth and visitors were advised not to stay around these elephants for a long time. You could also have a chat with the caretakers and mahouts. They will some nice stories to tell about each elephant. For instance, we were introduced to Padmanabhan, the oldest among the inhabitants and wow...it was truly majestic.
Given that all temples are going to be closed in the region between 1PM to 4PM, Punnathur Kotta is a great choice to fill in the intermittent time. Do check it out...you will feel good that you did not miss it.
