See baby jumbos wondering around their cramped foster home or bottle fed and bathed by their human foster fathers at Pinnawala, about 90Km from Colombo towards Kandy is the home to some 60 or more elephant orphans. A place you will really enjoy and never forget. Most orphans are accustomed to their curious human visitors are harmless.
Started in 1972 the Elephant Orphanage was relocated to at the present site in 1975 Bathing time at Ma Oya just in front of the orphanage is sharp at 10.00am and 2.00pm. Feeding time is about and hour earlier.

The state-run orphanage is about a 5-km (3-mile) drive past some small, privately operated elephant sideshows. Don’t stop, but go for the real thing. There are more than 50 elephants in the orphanage, from calves of only a few weeks to magnificent, fully mature specimens. This, the only such sanctu ary in the world, primarily cares for calves abandoned or lost in the wild. It trains its elephants, which are eventually given to temples or sold to for eign zoos. The orphanage is one of the very few places in the world that has been able to breed elephants in captivity successfully.

It is a good idea to visit the orphanage during feeding or bathing times. The very young are fed from bottles, much like human babies. Feeding times are at 915am, 115pm and 5pm; bathing times from lOam—noon and from 2—4pm. The bathing takes place at the end of the road opposite the entrance to the orphanage compound. You buy your tickets at the main entrance and then walk down the road to the river. At a given command, the older elephants guide the younger ones towards the river. They playfully squirt water on themselves and each other, and then lie down, hind legs first, immersing themselves completely except for their trunks. The mahouts climb on top of the larger

Elephants and help scrub them down. A photo of a mahout taking a nap on the back of a bathing elephant makes a fine souvenir of this orphanage. Perch yourself on the riverside rocks and enjoy the entertainment. You can purchase drinks at sites overlooking the bath scene, or take lunch at the Ceylon Hotels Corporation.

Restaurant in the grounds. There is a branch of Hatton National Bank opposite the orphanage entrance and, behind it, the Elephant View Hotel where, for a small charge, you can see the skeleton of a giant elephant.