A day out at 'Prani, The Pet Sanctuary'

After just having wrapped up the festivities of Deepavali, the weekend seemed quite mundane. So as all Bangaloreans do, my husband and I decided to google ‘Weekend getaways near Bangalore’. But that did not seem to work out for us, as all the places had either been visited or they were too far away. Just in the nick of time my husband remembered that a few weeks back, an acquaintance of his, had shared a Whatsapp status about Prani, the pet sanctuary. So we both got working and discovered that it is located in Somanahalli village, Off Kanakapura Road, which is about 33 kms from the city centre. It had pretty good reviews too. Since it would be just a half day program, we decided that it would be a great idea to pay a visit.

We hopped on to the bike and zoomed off at 8:00 a.m and reached the
destination at 9:00 a.m. As we were alighting the vehicle, we were greeted by two dogs. I faked nonchalance even though I was scared to death by their barking. A member of the sanctuary came and calmed them down. In that duration we were quick to notice that there weren’t many visitors. We purchased the tickets and were asked to wait for sometime inside a small hut. We liked the village like surroundings which reminded us of our hometown. So we decided to sit on a stone bench outside, clicking pictures while waiting.

A member of the team arrived and asked us if we could start the tour. We got up with our cameras at the ready. On one side of the hut were a group of enclosures. The first one that we saw were the cluster of rabbits munching on their food. One rabbit was brought out and we got a chance to hold it. We got to know that rabbits are originally from Australia and the ones we find in our village surroundings are actually hares. Then we moved on to the enclosures that had goats and sheep. We tried to hold a goat but it seemed quite uncomfortable, so we had to give it back. It was interesting to find out that the sheep do not have front teeth in their upper jaw. We also saw a dhobi’s donkey. I touched it on the forehead. But we were educated that since the forehead is it’s blindspot, it reacts and gets scared and we need to avoid it.

Next, we moved on to the see the ducks and geese. They seemed quite content paddling about in their own small pond. The feathers of the ducks was sparkling white as well as smooth and silky. Their feathers seem water proof because they spread oil over the top layers while preening. Then we were joined by another visitor family and we went to meet the emus. We stood in a corner and witnessed them. The emus keep walking around and the sight can be compared with people going for early morning walks in the park, walk to one end, turn around and then walk back. They are giant birds and their feathers are quite rough.

We circled the hut and watched a red-eared slider, which is a kind of turtle. We were surprised to find out that they can feel if we touch their shell. Right across the hut were two fenced areas. One of them housed a retired race horse and the other a pony with her foal. The horse looked majestic not having lost its grandeur of the days of yore and the foal kept hopping about around its mother.

The next stop in the tour was a hut where the rodents and reptiles dwelled. We sat down and held a few in our hands- gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs etc. There was a trial to demonstrate the aiming skills of the Archerfish in an aquarium using a small bug. But they were either not interested or were not hungry, so, unfortunately we did not get to see them in action. Then we also got a chance to hold snails and a reptile.

The last part of the tour was my favourite and that was the aviary. I do not know the names of them but they were indeed a colourful lot. It was fun to have them perch on our arms and see them peck at the grains on our palms. We took a few closeup shots on our camera and then exited the aviary.

We were indeed delighted at the end of the tour and made a few rounds around the sanctuary to click some more pictures. We thanked the members of the sanctuary for their assistance and headed towards the exit gate with a lot of fun filled memories of interacting with the animals. We realised later that since not many people know about Prani, it is not one of the most visited places. But I think it surely deserves a place as one of the must visit destinations both for adults and kids alike.

Prani, The Pet Sanctuary