Pinnawella Elephant Orphanage

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is situated north of Kegalle in Rambukkana-Kegalle, which is near to Kandy. This place was established in 1975 by the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation to save abandoned, orphaned, or injured wild elephants. There are from 50 to 100 elephants in the orphanage, from calves only a few weeks old to fully mature elephants. The sanctuary is unique in the world. It also breeds these specimens successfully, which is a rarity in the world. The first elephant baby was born in 1984. Elephants are trained there and eventually given to temples or sold to foreign zoos. During the daytime, animals are allowed to roam freely within this large area. Feeding and bathing time in the river are the best opportunities to admire these animals close-up. The young animals are bottle-fed, like human babies. Bathing takes place in the shallow waters of the Maha Oya River at the end of the road opposite the entrance to the orphanage. The older elephants guide the younger ones towards the river. They playfully splash water all around; the mahouts (keepers), however, help scrub them down. It is an event worth seeing.