Anandapur

The village of Serka Zong along the Himalayas

**Anandapur** is a fictional kingdom from the Asian area of *Disney's Animal Kingdom*.

## Description

Anandapur is an Asian kingdom, north of the Bugis sea while south of the Himalayas. The kingdom's name is Sanskrit for "Place of delight".

### Features

* **Anandapur District**:
	+ **Anandapur**: Anandapur is a city which shares the kingdom's name and is seemingly most central in the kingdom's history. The city was located along the Anandapur Royal Forest and Chakranadi River.
	+ **Anandapur Royal Forest**: This was the royal forest used for hunting by the maharajas of the kingdom. In the 20th century, the forest was repurposed to serve as a wildlife reserve.
	+ **Dakshinran:**
	+ **Nagbhatti:**
	+ **Nayapur:**
	+ **Padipantai**:
* **Bharatmadesh**:
	+ **Bharatpur:**
	+ **Bharatsima:**
	+ **Nagpul:**
* **Bhotanta Himal**: Bhotanta Himal the most west of Anandapur's districts. It is located directly along the Himalayas, namely the Forbidden Mountain.
	+ **Kar Gesar:**
	+ **Lamalhabdra:**
	+ **Nytagma Lakhang**:
	+ **Serka Zong**: Serka Zong or Zerka Dzong (meaning: "Fortress of the Chasm") is a village at the base of the Himalayas; namely the forbidden mountain.
* **Corkhalidanda:**
* **Drukhimal District:**
	+ **Druk Ozong**:
* **Dvavarati District**:
	+ **Indrawat**:
	+ **Pa Phru**:

* **Mughasistan**:
* **Nusa Jayaraja**: The Nusa Jayaraja are a series of islands in the Bugis sea.
	+ **Fort Clive**:
	+ **Gunun Gajamadah**:
	+ **Kota Basar**:
	+ **Pasarbaru**:

* **Pulao Malaya**:
	+ **Bandar Baru**:
	+ **Bukittinggl**:
	+ **Keta Bugia**:
* **Sinhaladesa**:
	+ **Rohana**:
* **Tamilaya District**:
	+ **Trigopuraguram**:
	+ **Yalaghar**:
	+ **Yalikadur**:
	+ **Yalipur**:

#### Serka Zong

* **Dancing Yeti Inn**:
* **Forbidden Mountain**:
* **Serka Zong Bazaar**:

## History

### Background

#### Origins

Anandapur was founded by a legendary king named Ananta by the 1500s. Ananta killed many of the land's animals and destroyed its woodlands in this process. Because of this, Ananta angered the heavens resulting in the beings above to confront him and force him to change. Following this, Ananta became a lover of nature. Following Ananta's death, he was placed in a stone sarcophagus and left to rest in the Anandapur Royal Forest.

Various of the maharajas who succeeded Ananta did not share Ananta's environmentalist views. In 1544, Rajah Bhima Disampati enclosed the Anandapur Royal Forest to serve as a private hunting-ground for the royal family. Also, at some point a temple was constructed on the foothills of Serka Zong to pay tribute to the yeti of the Forbidden Mountain; seen by locals as a sacred guardian. In the 17th century, the rajah Parthiva Sankara Gavampati created artifacts such as a mandir paroda to worship the yeti as Guardian of the Forbidden Mountain.

#### British subjugation

By the 19th/20th century, Anandapur was conquered and subjugated by the British Empire. In 1912, the Anandapur Royal Forest hosted the Wilderness Explorers, an international scouting organization. Then king Arjun Maharajah Gavampati had a plaque placed outside of the Royal Forest to commemorate this visit. In 1922, the Royal Anandapur Tea Company constructed a steam-train route which passed through the yeti's temple and the Forbidden Mountain as a short route to trading posts near Mount Everest.

In 1933, the yeti began attacking the tea-trains as they made their routes through the Himalayas though these attacks were shrouded in secrecy. In 1934, the Royal Anandapur Railway officially closed off the train-tracks. The locals of Anandapur would blame these attacks on the westerners (particularly English) who continued to increase their population in the captured kingdom. Also in the 1930s, a colonial explorer's guild known as the *League of Adventurers* attempted to build a, "Fixed Rope Transit System" through the Himalayas only to be attacked and chased out by the yeti.

In 1938, English sea-captain and archaeologist Captain Mary Oceaneer arranged for a group to travel to Anandapur and the Forbidden Mountain to investigate incidents which she had heard about. This group was composed of members of the *Society of Explorers and Adventurers*, a colonial secret-society of world-travelling aristocrats from Europe. The outcome of this colonial presence and investigation is unknown.

#### Independence

Following the end of the Second World War in 1948, Britain was pressured into freeing the asian nations which it had captured and exploited. Anandapur was amongst the locations which gained their independence from the empire. The Anandapur Royal Family would subsequently regain control of the kingdom. The Wilderness Explorers would maintain a continued presence in the kingdom, assisting with environmental endeavours.

In 1982, a mountaineering expedition journeyed onto the Forbidden Mountain. This group was subsequently attacked by the yeti with no known survivors. The wrecked camp of the expedition was later found with a broken camera containing blurry photographs of the cryptid. The artifacts from this lost camp would come to be acquired by Serka Zong cryptozoologist Professor Pema Dorje.

By the 2000s, the old headquarters of the Anandapur Tea Company would be acquired by a conservationist named Professor Pema Dorje and his allies from *Conservation International*. Dorje performed cryptozoological studies of the yeti and aimed to use his museum to increase the ecological consciousness of those in the region. However, the other half of the building was acquired by the company *Himalayan Escapes Tours and Expeditions*, an amoral tourism company run by a British man known as, "Bob" and Anandapur man named Norbu.

Around 2005/2006, Norbu and Bob repurposed the old tea-trains to bring their clients from Serka Zong to Mount Everest. Dorje would warn locals and the company about the dangers this posed to no avail. One particular tourist group during or after 2007 would be attacked by the yeti when they happened upon it ripping up the tracks. This tea-train ultimately was able to escape from the monster and returned to Serka Zong.

Other denizens of the kingdom around this time included the amoral Tetak Logging Company which commit crimes of illegal deforestation. Local woman Manisha Gurung would combat the logging company by founding Kali River Expeditions, a white-water rafting company which raised awareness of Tetak's crimes.

## Jungle Cruise appearances

### Jungle Cruise

In Alberta Falls' office in the Jungle Navigation Company's Amazon River Base is a post-card from Captain Mary Oceaneer which references the attraction. The post-card reads as:

*"Ahoy Skippers,*

*Hope things in the jungle are in shipshape.  I just wanted to give you an update on my expedition.  Sadly, there has been no sign of your lost grandfather.*

*However, i am hearing some strange stories from the Forbidden Mountain near Anandapur.  I’m leading some members to investigate. On the way back maybe they can bring back a decent cup of tea.*

*Exploratio Continua*

*Capt. Mary Oceaneer*

*Society of Explorers and Adventurers*".

In 2023, a souvenir banner from Anandapur was hung up over the Banana Troop door in the Amazon River Base.

### Other connections

#### The Jungle Book

Baloo and King Louie can often be found as meet 'n' greet characters in Anandapur.

#### Skipper Canteen

There is a book in the Skipper Canteen's library titled, "*Everest Expedition: In Search of the Yeti*". The book is authored by Harrison Hightower III, an evil colonial explorer who was a high-ranking member of the aforementioned *Society of Explorers and Adventurers* up until his death in 1899. Referencing Harrison Hightower III alongside Expedition Everest is a tribute to Hightower's actor, Joe Rohde, an imagineer behind Expedition Everest.

#### Up

There were several missions relating to the story of the Wilderness Explorers attraction which Wilderness Explorers could go on. A plaque outside of Maharajah Jungle Trek tributes a 1912 expedition of the Wilderness Explorers through the Maharajah jungle. The characters Doug and Russell from Up can often be found in the Asia area, having been major characters in an attraction called *UP! A Great Bird Adventure*.

## Other appearances

### Adventurers Outpost

The bulletin board in the queue has various postings and photographs from Anandapur and Serka Zong. The mural shows the Forbidden Mountain.

### Blizzard Beach

Within a cave is an illustration of the Forbidden Mountain with a yeti chasing tourists outside of it.

## Trivia

* Kali River Rapids was originally planned to be a boat-ride with live animals, similar to Walt Disney's original vision for the Jungle Cruise.
* Anandapur is one of the fictional settings composing Disney's Animal Kingdom along with Harambe, Discovery Island, Diggs County, and Pandora's Valley of Mo'ara.

## Gallery

A map of the kingdomAnandapur's royal crest
## References

1. ↑ https://allears.net/2009/10/16/maharajah-jungle-trek/
2. ↑ https://www.wdwinfo.com/photos/expedition-everest/pages/Queue%20everest%20109.htm
3. ↑ https://allears.net/2023/08/23/25-things-you-didnt-know-about-jungle-cruise-in-disney-world/
4. ↑ https://allears.net/2012/08/06/animal-kingdoms-kali-river-rapids-part-one/