Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited the Theppakkadu elephant camp at Mudumalai in the hilly Nilgiris district and interacted with Bellie and Bomman, the elephant caretakers who featured in an Oscar-winning documentary.
The PM expressed delight over meeting the elephant caretaker couple.
Modi, who reached Mysuru in Karnataka on Saturday evening from Chennai following official engagements there, visited the tiger sanctuary briefly today.
Upon his arrival, the PM was accorded a welcome by the pachyderms and he fed sugarcane to some of the elephants in the Theppakkadu camp at the tiger reserve here.
He later interacted with Bellie and Bomman, who have won accolades after they featured in the Academy award-wining documentary, “The Elephant Whisperers.”
“What a delight to meet the wonderful Bomman and Belli, along with Bommi and Raghu (elephant calves),” he said in a tweet.
Modi uploaded pictures of him being with the couple and the young elephants, with one of them being in a playful mood with the PM.
Modi goes on jungle safari
PM 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 H.D.Kote and Nanjangud taluks of Mysuru District.
“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 a 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.