Trifter

Chennai city in Tamil Nadu state of India has some interesting places which cannot be found in the other cities of India. The Crocodile Bank is one such place. The Crocodile Bank is located on the East Coast Road (ECR) at distance of around 42 km from Chennai.

The Crocodile Bank aka the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust was found in 1976, and it managed by a public trust. The Bank was established for the conservation and study of endangered crocodiles. When it was started, it hardly had 30 crocodiles. Now, the bank has around 2400 crocodiles belonging to 14 different species. Over the years, the crocodile bank has supplied a lot of crocodiles to various zoos in India. Besides crocodiles, the bank also has 12 endangered species of turtles and tortoises, five species of snakes, two pythons and some water monitor lizards. You can get a close view of crocodiles live in the wild as they are housed in enclosures very similar to their natural habitat. I am not sure if you can find such a large number of crocodiles belonging to different species anywhere else in India.

If you are lucky you can get a chance to watch how the Crocodile Bank staff captures the crocodiles by tying their necks for the purpose of measurement and counting. You can watch crocodile feeding. You can also touch baby crocodile to get a feel. In the snake section, you can find a lot of pots covered with clothes. Each pot would have a snake and Irular people (a community in Tamil Nadu who captures snakes) would display you how to take poison from snake which can be used for medical treatment.

The Crocodile Bank is definitely a different kind of place to visit in Chennai. Don’t miss this place. Whether you are a child or an adult, you will really love this place. This place, being located on the ECR, is easily accessible by public transport or private vehicles. Do visit this place and enjoy.

Happy traveling.