Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

This Orphanage is situated northwest of the town of Kegalle, halfway between the present capital Colombo and the ancient royal residence Kandyin the hills of central Sri Lanka. It was established in 1975 by the Sri Lanka wildlife department in a 25 acre coconut property near the Maha Oya river. The orphanage was originally founded in order to afford care and protection to the many orphaned Elephants found in the jungle. In 1978 the orphanage was taken over by the National Zoologicla Gardens from the Department of Wildlife and a captive breeding programme was launched in 1982 Since this time over twenty elephants have been born. The aim of the orphanage is to simulate the natural world. 

  

They work on a time table, so visitors are aware of what happening around.

 The elephants are taken to the river twice daily for a bath, and all the babies under three years of age are still bottle fed by the mahouts and volunteers. Each animal is also given around 76kg of green matter a day and around 2kg from a food bag containing rice bran and maize. They get access to water twice a day, from the river.

The orphanage is very popular and visited daily by many Sri Lankan and foreign tourists. The main attraction is clearly to observe the bathing elephants from the tall river bank as it allows visitors to observe the herd interacting socially, bathing and playing.

This 24 acre elephant orphanage is also a breeding place for elephants.Twenty elephants have been born since 1984, and the orphanage has the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. While most of the elephants are healthy, one is blind and one, named Sama, has lost her front left leg due to a landmine.