Getting Up Close With Elephants - Pinnewala

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            From Kandy City we went on a day trip with tuk-tuk to the Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka. Along the way to the Orphanage there were numerous spice gardens and lots of handicraft shops selling leather goods and souvenirs.

The orphanage is government run, and was initially created to protect abandoned or orphaned elephants. It was set up in 1975 to rescue four orphaned baby elephants when they could no longer be looked after at Dehiwala (Colombo south) Zoo. Today it has become the home to the largest captive group of elephants in the world, and is one of Sri Lankas most popular attractions, both among tourists and locals.

Inside the Orphanage there are about 80 elephants of all ages and sizes, walking around a fairly large territory.

For some extra rupees you can feed the elephants fruits, like bananas and pineapples.

The elephants are controlled by their mahouts (keepers), who feed them and watch out so they don`t endanger anyone. They do however walk freely around the area and among the visitors most of the time.

The orphanage also houses baby elephants, which were really cute! Apparently it was possible for visitors to bottle-feed a baby elephant, if you paid extra. Everything cost extra! The Orphanage was a bit awkward and touristy, and not as nice as witnessing a wild elephant in the jungle like we did in Yala National Park. But still, it`s safe to say that nowhere else in Sri Lanka are you likely to see that many elephants so closed up.

We got to the orphanage around 9 o`clock in the morning, so we would be able to participate in the elephant bathing. Each day from 10 to 12 in the morning, and from 2 to 4 in the afternoon, the mahouts takes all the elephants down to a nearby river for bathing.

When we were there it was the dry season, so the water level in the river was low. In the rainy season, when the river is at its maximum, they sometimes have to cancel the bathing due to strong currents.

There were quite a few tourists when we were there, but not too crowded. Next to the river were a couple of cafes/restaurant, where you can have a meal or a cold drink with a nice view overlooking the bathing elephants.

In this area there are a lot of sellers! One Srilankan man came suddenly over to me, grabed my hand and started to read my palm. He held my hand so tight that I really had to struggle to free it from his grip. And ofcourse he wanted a lot of money for it! Very annoying!

There are a lot of souvenir shops along the road that the elephants and the tourists walk to get to the river. A very popular souvenir they are selling are paper made out of elephant poo. Yep, poo!   We went into a shop where they showed us the whole process. The poo is dried in the sun and boiled, and the resulting pulp are then used to make high-quality paper. The texture and colour of the paper varies according to the elephant’s diet, while other ingredients like tea and onion peel are also added in order to get the required finish. They make really nice things out of this elephant poo paper, like note books, cards, photo frames, photo albums and soon.

You can buy things made out of elephant poo paper at Amazon.

 Note books and cards made out of elephant poo!

This government-owned elephant orphanage is both loved and hated by people. Some think it is a nice opportunity to get up close with elephants, while others think it is a rip-off with no conservational value whatsoever. We had a mixed feeling about the place. It did not seem like the elephants were suffering, but we are no elephant experts. It semed like they really enjoyed the bathing though!

Where is it:
Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage – 77 km east of Colombo, inland of Sri Lanka.

Ticket Prices:
Rs.4000/= (30 us$) for adults,
Rs.2000/= (15 us$) for children.

Opening hours:
08:30 – 18:00

When to go:
The best season, with less rain, is November to March.

How to get there:
The orphanage is a few kilometers north of the Colombo-Kandy road. We took a tuk-tuk from Kandy (1 hour each way).


Would you like to go Pinnewala? Please mail your comment in the my mail box below, ( basuratravels@gmail.com ) I can help you it. Thank you! If you like this blog post, or find it useful, please share it on social media!

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