Pinnawala Orphanage for Elephants

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was established in 1975 by the Sri Lanka Wild Life Department on a 24 acre coconut property located in the north west of the town of Kegalle near Maha Oya river. It the home for many wild elephants providing them care and protection.

Many improvements were made since it was taken over by the National Zoological Gardens in 1978 with the aim to simulate the natural world. A breeding program was launched in 1982 within the premises which reproduced more of these wonderful creatures.

Elephants are given 76 Kg of green matter and 2Kg of containing rice bran, maize, powdered gingelly seed and minerals. The elephants are stall fed. There is very little food material that they can gather from the premises of the orphanage except grass. Large quantities of food are brought in daily. Jackfruit, coconut, kitul, tamarind and grass form the bulk of the food given to the elephants at Pinnawela. Plenty of food and water is available. The baby elephants under 3 years are bottle fed by the mahouts or volunteers who naturally develop a care giving heart towards the innocence of these infants.

The Elephants are taken twice to the river for baths which is an attraction that gathers both local and foreign crowd to the river bank. It provides visitors to observe herd interactions, bathing, and playing from verandahs above river level. Crowd is allowed for a closer interaction with a limit distance to the captive area. The income will be contributed to raise funds for the maintenance of the facility.

Like in human community, Elephants are given names and called upon by the mahouts. Vijaya and Neela and females Kumari, Anusha, Mathalie and Komali are few of the well known. The father of the first three calves born at Pinnawela was Vijaya. The site of these wild beasts, behave in perfect harmony, is truly inspiring.