MYSURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited the elephant camp at Mudumalai in the hilly Nilgiris district.
The PM was accorded a welcome by the pachyderms and he fed sugarcane to some of the elephants at the Theppakkadu camp at the tiger reserve here.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on a "safari" at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka amidst the picturesque surroundings of the towering Western Ghats on Sunday, as part of programmes to mark 50 years of "Project Tiger '.
Modi, dressed in a speckled safari clothing and hat, reportedly covered about 20-km distance in the open jeep, during the Safari at the Tiger Reserve, located partly in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district, and partly in HD Kote and Nanjangud taluks of Mysuru District.
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"Spent the morning at the scenic Bandipur Tiger Reserve and got a glimpse of India's wildlife, natural beauty and diversity", Modi tweeted.
On his arrival at Melukamanahalli helipad, the Prime Minister travelled by road to Forest Department's reception centre at Bandipur, where he paid respects to forest martyrs memorial nearby, before leaving for Safari in the forest department's jeep.
Modi shared pictures of Safari on his twitter account in which he can be seen standing in the open jeep, and with a camera and binoculars. He also shared pictures of elephants, langurs, spotted deers, and baisons.
According to the state forest department, the National Park was formed by including most of the forest areas of the then Venugopala Wildlife Park established under the government notification dated February 19, 1941 and the area was enlarged in 1985 extending over an area of 874.20 Sq.
Km and named as Bandipur National Park. The reserve was brought under 'Project Tiger' in 1973. Subsequently, some adjacent reserve forest areas were added to the reserve extending to 880.02 Sq.Km.
PM Modi who had arrived in Mysuru to commemorate the 50 years of Project Tiger on Saturday night visited Bandipur safari point at around 7.30 am. From the temporary helipad at Oval Ground in Mysuru, PM Modi flew to the temporary helipad at Melkammanahalli at Gundlupet.
Modi visited the forester's martyrs memorial and paid respect to forest staffers who laid their lives to protect the forest and wildlife.
Later PM Modi visited Boldudda Anti Poaching Camp where he interacted with the forest staff. The PM will visit Madumalai Tiger Reserve where he will felicitate Bomman and Belli, the couple who dedicated their life for caring orphaned elephants. The film based on the couple 'Elephant Whisperers' won the Oscar award recently.
(With PTI inputs)