Shimoga Elephant Camp

The Sakrebailu Elephant Camp is a forest camp for captive elephants in Karnataka. Situated at a distance of 14 km from Shimoga on the Shimoga-Thirthahalli Road, it is considered to be the best camp for training elephants in the state. The Sakrebayalu is an elephant training camp where the mahouts (keepers) train these magnificent animals. There are over a dozen elephants at the camp and each elephant has two mahouts dedicated to its care. The elephants lounge around in the camp till midday, after which they are set free in the surrounding forest.  They do this by tracking their footprints and dung, and since they share such a close relationship with the elephants, they also know their favorite hangouts! The mahouts say that the elephants love to feast on bamboo shoots, which grow in profusion in the forests.