Sakrebyle, Shimoga
The Sakrebyle Elephant Camp is in the Shimoga district in Karnataka, one of the Southern States of India. Shimoga is also the gateway to the mountainous Western Ghats.
It is approximately 265 kms from Bangalore.
The camp is managed by the Forest Department of Karnataka, and trains and houses elephants.
Satish, Ajit and I – friends and fellow nature lovers stayed at the Sakrebyle Jungle Lodges and Resorts which is within the reserve forest area and is walking distance from the Elephant Bathing area.
While there is a bird hide within the camp, the adjacent forest area also offers significant bird sighting and photography opportunities. Wild cats roam around freely and we did spot fresh footprints of a leopard. We came across a number of mahouts and their elephants. For me, an interesting learning is that the language to which the elephants respond is a mixture of Hindi, Urdu and Bengali!
Not very far away is the Bhadra Wildlife sanctuary, which is home to tigers, besides other wild animals and birds. We went on vehicle safari in the sanctuary with the hope of sighting the big cat, but all we managed was to sight tiger paw prints in the mud. Wild boars, elephants, deer and wild dogs are less reclusive as compared to the tiger and are easily spotted.
I also managed to photograph the Indian Giant Squirell
Certainly worth a visit.
Do click on the link below to see some of my photographs
