PATHANAMTHITTA: The Konni elephant museum and art gallery, designed to take visitors to the wonderful world of elephants, is gearing up to welcome tourists. With the state government having started relaxing the lockdown norms, the facility under the Konni Forest Division is expecting restrictions on tourism to be lifted soon and thereby visitors bringing the place alive.
The elephant museum and art gallery was opened for tourists after renovation on February 16, but had to shut down on April 26 because of the lockdown. It had seen a daily footfall of 800 to 1,200 tourists. An exhibition room, central hall and audio visual room are the major three parts of the elephant museum. At the entrance, the visitors are welcomed by two spectacular mural paintings costing Rs 7.5 lakh.
While one highlights human life in relation to wild elephants, the other is about people and captive elephants. Inside the museum, there are minute details about elephants, not just from Kerala but from around the world. Arjun P P, an elephant lover, said that he and his friends had an unforgettable experience when they visited the museum before the lockdown.
“We appreciate the forest department for setting up this amazing museum, which is a treasure trove of knowledge about the elephant world. In the exhibition room, we could see the original skeleton of a tusker, which is a rare and attractive thing,” said Anandhu Ashokan, another visitor. Pictures and figures present details regarding the evolution, habitat, food, behaviour and senses of elephants. The museum also has the animal’s original body parts like skull, teeth, knee joints, chin and lower jaw.
Traditional equipment used by people in Kerala to capture and control elephants are on view too.
“Equipment like elephant traps, hooks, hobbles and tethering chains can be seen in the museum which also help us understand that elephants would have suffered a lot while being captured and tamed in the past,” said Arjun.
The central hall reveals the traditional ways of capturing elephants. It also has attractive figures of elephants. The audio-visual room is one of the main attractions for children, whose favourite activity would be listening to the original sounds of over 30 different creatures like wild animals, birds, amphibians and insects. At the end of the museum tour, an exciting quiz on elephants awaits visitors.
“The elephant art gallery will gift tourists with marvellous elephant sculptures created by various artists,” said Ajith Kumar B, the beat forest officer.Chief Conservator of Forest Sanjayan Kumar, Konni DFO Syam Mohan Lal and former range officer Salin Jose have played important roles behind the renovation of the museum and art gallery.