Pinnawala is an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka. Elephants in Sri Lanka, Pinnawala - or the biggest good people in the world! elephant nursery

I was among those tourists in Sri Lanka who set themselves the goal of seeing the elephants! It seems to me that these majestic animals are a must-see for any tourist in Asia, especially in Sri Lanka. After all, about 3,000 elephants live in this country! Yet see them in their natural environment almost impossible, even though their paths often cross highways. They avoid people, and their population has also declined sharply over the past 20 years due to the bombing of the Tamil Tigers during civil war.

However, let's not talk about sad things! Elephants in Pinnawala made a terrific impression on me - cute, kind, smiling! And, most importantly, what kind of spectacle this nursery offers. If you arrive there in the morning, you can feed baby elephants with milk from a bottle, and then walk along with the whole herd of 90 elephants to the river, where they swim and frolic. This spectacle, by the way, is simply awesome! A whole herd is led through the village to the Maha Oya River, where baby elephants frolic and splash in the water, and adults bathe themselves in a rain-fountain from their trunks.

For a nominal fee, I was able to feed the elephant, stroke it, look into its huge good-natured eyes, being close, close to it. Nursery in Pinnawala gives unforgettable memories to any visitor!

A bit of history

The nursery was founded in the mid-70s of the last century. His main goal was the rehabilitation of little orphaned elephants. Many of them lost their parents as a result of falling into mines left in the forest or into deep pit traps created by the opposition during the war.

Now the shelter has about 90 elephants in three generations, which are diligently cared for by about the same number of employees.

How to make the dream of visiting this place a reality? I will tell you about this a little lower, because there are many nuances that should be taken into account so that nothing mars your impression of the nursery.

How to get there

To the south of Pinnawala is one of the main highways of all Sri Lanka - A1, along which buses pass every 30 minutes, and along which you can also drive to your destination. And to the north of the nursery there is a station in the village of Rambukkana, to which trains arrive from Colombo and almost hourly. And now in more detail about each of the routes.

By train

The nearest railway station to the nursery is in the neighboring village of Rambukkana, just 4 km from Pinnawala. The easiest way to get from the station is by tuk-tuk for 1 USD (150 LKR / Sri Lankan rupees) or by bus, which stops near the station, for 0.2 USD (30 LKR). On buses, as a rule, the places through which they pass are written, but it is always better to check with the conductor and driver. You can also ask one of the station staff for advice on how to find this bus.

From Colombo

The earliest train from Colombo leaves at 04:40 and the latest at 23:00. Total of largest city country to Rambukkanu departs 20 trains per day. At the same time, only half have first and second class, which are mainly used by tourists in Sri Lanka.

The first class is equipped with air conditioning, in some cases there is Wi-Fi on the train. The second class differs from the third in slightly more comfortable seats and relative cleanliness, and due to more high price you will have far fewer fellow travelers than if you buy a ticket in the third class. I traveled around Sri Lanka only in the second class, as I saved money, plus in the first class it’s not always possible to take epic photos leaning out of the car: the doors are often locked.

A ticket can cost from 0.2 USD to 1.3 USD (30–200 LKR), depending on the class. It is better to buy tickets for first class 1-2 days before departure, but for other classes you can buy the same day. Ticket purchases are made at the box office at Colombo Fort Station.

You will spend 2.5 hours on the way, so it is best to choose a train that leaves from 06:00 to 09:00 ( exact time I forgot), then you will have enough time to explore Pinnawela and return home.

From Kandy

Millennium Park

Upon arrival, either at the bus station or at the station, tuk-tukers will persistently offer you to visit this particular place, which is located 2 km south of the Pinnawala Nursery. The arguments are not bad: the price is lower - 14 USD (2,000 LKR), which includes elephant riding for 15 minutes. BUT this establishment is the subject of a real scam and easy money at the expense of poor elderly elephants!

And the thing is that for each visitor to tuk-tukers they unfasten a little money there. In fact, the elephants in the Millennium are terribly exhausted, unhappy, tired, despite the fact that there are only four of them. They have chains on their legs and are beaten by mahouts (so to speak, elephant herders) for disobedience. Yes, and a trip on an elephant is a small pleasure: it shakes a lot, and the elephant seems to throw off or run somewhere. Mine did just that: he rushed to the forest, and the mahout only shouted: No worry!, doing nothing.


This park is private project one Sri Lankan entrepreneur who does not invest at all for the welfare of the animals of his, if you can call it, nursery. Obviously, the employees there are underpaid, given the way they behave: our mahout managed to go over the personal photos on the phone that we gave him to capture our trip on an elephant, and other employees were constantly rude to visitors.

Please do not fall for this dubious entertainment! So you support a rude attitude towards innocent animals. Of course, if you want to ride an elephant, this is the place for you, but otherwise I don’t see the point in visiting the Millennium. Emotions after that remain extremely negative, not to be compared with visiting Pinnawala.

Where to stay

If you want to spend a day or two here, spending one day at the zoo and the other at the nursery, you can stay at one of the hotels in Pinnawala. It also makes sense to stay here for the night if you come with children: for sure, they will be very exhausted by the impressions of the day, and the road back will not be easy.


The best of the few options that the village offers are Hotel Elephant Park and Hotel Elephant Bay - from their windows in the morning you can see how the elephants are taken for a bath, and these are not the cheapest options. You can find other options at.

On a note

Finally, I will give you a couple of tips:

  1. There is a cafe on the territory of the nursery, where for a lot of money they offer everything that you can eat in the village of Pinnawala for mere pennies, so eat before you enter the shelter. You can take your own food and eat in the park (especially considering that the path of the elephants to the river runs right through the village), but the employees may not like it - they may think that you will feed the animals.
  2. It is best to come here early in the morning on one of the first trains in order to have time to see both feeding the babies and swimming before the heat sets in. So you can just wait out the heat on the way back by train or bus;
  3. Some people think that the shelter in last years lost its main essence - the rescue of poor, orphaned elephants, and began to be used as a place for breeding animals. In my opinion, this is not so bad - it is necessary to somehow restore the population. At the same time, the animals are never released into the wild, and, unfortunately, some young elephants in puberty are kept on chains for safety reasons. The sight is not the most pleasant, but in Pinnawala such measures are quite justified.

If you say the word elephant (elephant) in Sri Lanka, then local residents there is only one association - Pinnawala (Pinavella). This small town, is located in the depths of the island and attracts tourists from all over the world to an unforgettable spectacle - feeding and bathing elephants.

Elephant nursery.

Due to restless political situation, which accompanied Sri Lanka for many years, wars, famine and killing of animals for the sake of a tusk, the population of elephants has declined sharply. Not indifferent people had to save these giants from complete destruction, therefore, in a secluded, small village, they created a nursery that was not numerical, then still. People in the forest found the wounded, abandoned by the herd, animals, little elephants without a mother and took them to a nursery specially created by the government. Years later, peace and order reigned in Sri Lanka, and the rescued elephants continue to live in the nursery and give birth. At the moment, there are about 80 adults and small individuals, and the nursery itself became popular among tourists, quickly commercialized, and is now the national state.

The state allocates some money to maintain the nursery, but mainly enterprising local people came up with entertainment for tourists and earnings for themselves. Tourists can visit the elephant sanctuary and see how the animals are fed and bathed. So, the cost of the spectacle is 2500 rupees per person, a little expensive, but worth it. At 9 o'clock in the morning, elephants are fed with bananas, and elephants are fed with milk from a bottle. Behind additional fee you can also participate and feed the baby. Then at 10 o'clock the real show begins. The procession of 80 elephants along the whole city, along the narrow streets, to the river. Powerful animals, maneuvering, go around shops with souvenirs, tents with clothes, stopping and feeling with their trunks the people who have come across for the presence of goodies for themselves. And this herd is accompanied by only a couple of drovers who are not at all afraid of a huge herd.

Having reached the river, these cute, not small animals begin to bathe. Some are poured with water, some lie down right in the river, little elephants flop next to their mother, trying to find more food from their mother. The entire show takes 2 hours.

Pinnawala reviews.

The beautiful sight of feeding and bathing is a must see for anyone who comes to Sri Lanka. It is advisable to come to the show an hour before the start, then in peace you can see the animals, calmly approach the drovers and ask for bananas for 100 rupees and feed the animals for another 100. Then you follow the herd of elephants through the city to the river, where the show continues, but with water procedures.

If you want to ride an elephant in a tropical park, swim with him on his back, then catch a tuk-tuk and express your desire to him. 10 minutes and you are in a private nursery, where for 2000 rupees they will ride you on an elephant, through the jungle, make unforgettable photos graphic fonts of you and an elephant in the river. It is also very interesting to feed the elephant, he so softly takes a banana from your hands with his trunk and poisons it in his mouth. Then he stretches it out again and sucks in air from two holes in the trunk, probing if you still have a nutritious fruit.

Shows in the main kennel take place in the morning as described above and in the afternoon:

9:00 and 13:00 - feeding, 10:00 and 14:00 - bathing. Therefore, if you missed the morning show, don't worry, you have one more left for today.

Pinnawala on the map, how to get there.

As you can see on the map, Pinavella is 70 km away, which will take a lot of time to get there. If you do not want to spend a lot of time covering the distance, then we advise you to hire a taxi. By taxi from the capital you will reach in 2 hours, and from the beaches of the island you will fit in one day and visit these wonderful animals. If you have an excursion, then, most often, you will not limit yourself to visiting only the font of elephants, but you will also see Peradeniya - Botanical Garden and Kandy - cultural capital states, with calling card.

Bus. Train.

You are traveling on your own, and you want to make a trip to Pinnaveli not expensive, then the option of traveling by bus or will be ideal and not tiring.

Colombo - Pinnawala.

From bus station in Colombo we go by bus number 1 to Kandy or number 1-1 to Kegalla. We need to get off at the bus station in the city of Kegalla and transfer to bus number 881, which follows directly to the city.

By train from railway station at Colombo Fort, head to Rambukkana. This railway station is not far from the nursery, but in order not to waste energy, and overcome the path on foot, they are waiting for you, ready to make life easier for the tourist.

Colombo to Pinnawala train schedule

Kandy - Pinnawala.

From there, you take bus number 1, in Kegalle you change to bus number 881, which goes to the nursery.

You can also get to Penovella from Kandy by train to Rambukkana station, 10 trains leave per day.

From any other point of the island, be it a resort, in the depths of the island, you need to make your way to the capital or Kandy and from there follow the already described route.

Hotels.

If you arrived in the evening, and in the morning you want to enjoy the bath of elephants from the window of your room, balcony or terrace, or even better go to the shore and take unforgettable photos, we can advise you to rent a room in one of the hotels:

  • Hotel Elephant Park
  • Hotel Pinnalanda
  • Hotel Elephant Bay

All these 3-star hotels are located on the banks of the river in Pinavella with a price in the region of $40 per night.

(G) (I)

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage- a shelter for wild elephants, located northwest of the city of Kegal in Sri Lanka. The shelter was opened in 1975 by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife Conservation on a coconut plantation on the Maha Oya River. Initially, the shelter was opened with the aim of rescuing and caring for many elephants found in the jungle abandoned by their parents. In 2008, the shelter had 84 elephants.

Story

Over time, the shelter turned into a nursery; more than 20 baby elephants have been born there since 1984. Pinnawala contains the most a large number of in the world of elephants in captivity. Most of the elephants are absolutely healthy, also one blind elephant lives in the shelter, and the female elephant, who lost one front leg, was blown up by a mine.

Tourism

The shelter has become very popular place among tourists. The main entertainment is elephant bathing, there is also the possibility of contact with animals and feeding. The entrance to the territory of the shelter is open every day, the entrance fee is used to keep the elephants.

Gallery

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    Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

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    Elephant bathing in the Maha Oya River

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    Elephant living in a shelter

    Elephants in water2.jpg

    Tourists watch elephants bathe

    pulling an elephant.jpg

    Shelter staff working with elephants

    Elephant orphanage near Kandy, Sri Lanka.jpg

    Baby elephants and their mothers in a shelter

    A blind elephant named Raja is one of the most famous residents of the orphanage.

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An excerpt from the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

“No, really, I saw it,” she said in a pleading voice.
Both the countess and Sonya understood that Moscow, the fire of Moscow, whatever it was, of course, could not matter to Natasha.
The count again went behind the partition and lay down. The countess went up to Natasha, touched her head with her upturned hand, as she did when her daughter was sick, then touched her forehead with her lips, as if to find out if there was a fever, and kissed her.
- You are cold. You're all trembling. You should go to bed,” she said.
- Lie down? Yes, okay, I'll go to bed. I'm going to bed now, - said Natasha.
Since Natasha was told this morning that Prince Andrei was seriously wounded and was traveling with them, she only in the first minute asked a lot about where? How? is he dangerously injured? and can she see him? But after she was told that she was not allowed to see him, that he was seriously injured, but that his life was not in danger, she obviously did not believe what she was told, but convinced that no matter how much she said, she would be answer the same thing, stopped asking and talking. All the way, with big eyes, which the countess knew so well and whose expression the countess was so afraid of, Natasha sat motionless in the corner of the carriage and was now sitting in the same way on the bench on which she sat down. She was thinking about something, something she was deciding or had already decided in her mind now - the countess knew this, but what it was, she did not know, and this frightened and tormented her.
- Natasha, undress, my dear, lie down on my bed. (Only the countess alone was made a bed on the bed; m me Schoss and both young ladies had to sleep on the floor in the hay.)
“No, mom, I’ll lie down here on the floor,” Natasha said angrily, went to the window and opened it. The groan of the adjutant was heard more distinctly from the open window. She stuck her head out into the damp night air, and the countess saw her thin shoulders tremble with sobs and beat against the frame. Natasha knew that it was not Prince Andrei who was moaning. She knew that Prince Andrei was lying in the same connection where they were, in another hut across the passage; but this terrible unceasing groan made her sob. The Countess exchanged glances with Sonya.
"Lie down, my dear, lie down, my friend," said the countess, lightly touching Natasha's shoulder with her hand. - Well, go to bed.
“Ah, yes ... I’ll lie down now, now,” said Natasha, hastily undressing and tearing off the strings of her skirts. Throwing off her dress and putting on a jacket, she tucked her legs up, sat down on the bed prepared on the floor and, throwing her short, thin braid over her shoulder, began to weave it. Thin long habitual fingers quickly, deftly took apart, weaved, tied a braid. Natasha's head, with a habitual gesture, turned first to one side, then to the other, but her eyes, feverishly open, fixedly stared straight ahead. When the night costume was over, Natasha quietly sank down on a sheet spread on hay from the edge of the door.

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is the most large park elephants in Sri Lanka. Here you can watch elephants in their natural environment, take part in the feeding of elephants and even bathe a huge elephant in the river. I will definitely show you all this, but at the beginning of the story there will be a touching and instructive story how we voluntarily parted with tens of thousands of rubles.

We spent the night in Kandy and in the morning we went to Pinnawala. I wanted to arrive early in order to have time to feed the elephants. On our trip, it was at 12 o'clock, but it's better to check the official website. Elephants are fed several times a day, but the rest of the time it was too early (I'm sleepy) or too late (I wanted to visit again).

The journey from Kandy to Pinnawala is about 40 km, it takes about an hour by car. On the way I came across a museum dedicated to the construction of roads in Shi Lanka.

It takes about an hour for normal tourists. But we had a small and somewhat costly collision in terms of money. As I wrote, our driver Rua was the very delicacy. In all six days, he offered only two visits to typical tourist attractions. The first time it was a jewelry factory, which we politely declined. And the second call happened on the road from to Pinnawala. The so-called "Spice Garden" is located there.

I think the essence of such places is clear to any sane person, well, or a tourist who went through the hell of Egypt. Formally, everything is free, you are given a tour of the factory or the garden, then they are told about the assortment of the local store, which of course is unique and incredibly cheap. Not really. As a rule, all these goods can be bought at any shop and are several times cheaper. But this is precisely the skill of the guides, that you literally light up with the idea of ​​​​buying this whole miracle store. At the end of the story, a percentage of your purchases goes to the guide or driver who took you there.

So, Rua told us that we were now going to pass the coolest place where we can see how the spices and medicinal plants we know grow: cinnamon, cocoa, pepper, thyme and more exotic things. The garden will free tour, and in Russian. No wiring and all that, he guarantees. My friends were not enthusiastic, but I became interested. Well, let's run for 15 minutes, for some reason I especially wanted to see cinnamon.

The visual part of the garden turned out to be rather dull, I will post only one photo, see below. Near each plant there was a sign with the name and a basket with products that are made from it. However, local guide He spoke quite interestingly about each exhibit of the garden, and in very good and understandable Russian. Near another tree, with a slightly peeled bark, he rolled up the sleeves of his white coat (he was dressed like a doctor) and showed his absolutely smooth hands.

We use the sap of this tree... for hair removal. We even shave with it! Look how smooth I am in all places. Let's show you how it works.

We chuckled skeptically, but agreed to smear thick white tree sap on an area about the size of a cigarette pack on the leg. Smeared and forgotten. After walking around the garden for a while, we came to a small gazebo in the garden to demonstrate goods. Here the "doctor" bent down and wiped the juice from our legs. And, oh miracle! The area on the leg, where the juice of this plant was, turned out to be absolutely, virginally smooth. Here our skepticism finally dissipated, and we carefully listened to a short lecture on Ayurveda, the Sri Lankan folk medicine, and what of all this is done in a local pharmacy. All medicines could be sniffed, tasted and smeared (well, as in Egypt, one to one). As a gift, they gave us a free (however, the "doctor" winked that we should give a small tip to the masseurs) a massage for fifteen minutes with some kind of another miracle oil.

In general, by the time we entered the store, we were completely under the hypnosis of the "doctor" and his miracle epilator. By the way, it seemed to me that the store is not a wiring, but a real local pharmacy. We stayed there for quite a long time, and from time to time locals drove up here to buy, once even big family ten people. Another thing is that for local prices are not so hellish. As a result, my friends managed to buy thirty thousand rubles or even more there. I am a more resistant person to any kind of shopping, but even then, to my shame, I left about five thousand.

I think you already know the end of this story? Almost everyone was in Egypt. Upon arrival in Moscow, the wonderful properties of the epilator somehow suddenly faded away. I would even say that it has become almost useless. You can’t check what they actually smeared on our legs, I believe that it was the most natural juice, it just doesn’t tolerate flights well, yeah. All other drugs were safely collecting dust from me, from friends and from our parents. If you think that the lesson with the "Garden of Spice" went to us for the future, then you are mistaken. Ahead was still a trip to the tea factory and the purchase of a sari (ooh).

But enough about spices, the story is actually about elephants. Still, we were able to catch the feeding of the elephants.

A very touching sight... which bored me in about five minutes. But the kids would probably be very interested.

Elephants are very cute, apart from their strong smell.

What was this Pinnawala worker thinking about?

Funny ones! We were immediately warned that in Pinnawala they don’t ride elephants - this is a serious shelter, and not an amusement park for tourists.

Our blonde could not resist the temptation, picked up a basket of cucumbers and fed them to the happy animal.

Slightly intimidating attraction, given the size of the elephant and the trunk flying over your head. But cool!

In reviews of Pinnavel, there are often complaints about wiring local population. There are many options, for example, they promise to drop you at the entrance to the shelter, but in fact they bring you to a private farm with a couple of elephants. Elephant mahouts demand money for a photo. Residents in the town are inviting in a cafe, where supposedly there will be best view bathing elephants. But with us was our driver-guide and guardian angel Rua. Therefore, no one even tried to cheat us. The driver's mood was excellent, still, I can imagine what percentage the "Garden of Spice" gave him. True, he himself claimed that he was very fond of elephants and every time he was childishly happy when he was with tourists in Pinnawala.

Rua took away the spear (ankus) from the drover, which is used to control the elephant. Ankus, a pointed goad with a sharp hook, was the main tool for controlling the elephant. Ankus first appeared in India in the 6th-5th century BC. and has since been used everywhere where elephants served man. Ankus is now banned in Europe and the USA. Then Rua began to teach us the tricks and sounds that elephants obey. Instead of elephants, he used our blonde for demonstration, noticing that I was filming all this, he asked me to send him pictures. Then I saw these pictures on his Facebook with comments, something like "Forward, forward animal))". We got a very funny guy.

After feeding and a master class on managing elephants, we went to look at them in wildlife.

Well, relatively alive. They just have a very wide range.

The older elephants put the smaller one in the center to protect.

It was quite entertaining and the views are picturesque, but the heat was depressing. It was a little more than an hour time, the sun spat mercilessly, which was reflected in the quality of the photo.

I read foreign forums and reviews about Pinnavel, it turns out that this shelter seems to many Europeans a dubious place in terms of the ethics of treating animals, despite the declared good intentions. And to be honest, I thought so too. True, I am a complete layman in this matter, perhaps it is impossible to handle elephants without chains and sharp peaks.

A small and unpretentious museum at the shelter.

So, feeding the elephants was like they graze in wild nature it was too. But this is not the main thing in my opinion. The coolest spectacle in Pinnawala is the bathing of elephants and the herd of elephants (herd of elephants, as it sounds!) before it is driven through the village in front of the Maha Oya River.

Ordinary Asian village narrow streets and shops, and then suddenly the tramp, dust, roar. Great show, don't miss it.

I won’t lie, I didn’t master the bath. Due to the terrible heat that day, I preferred to take refuge in a cafe on the river bank and watch the contented wet elephants from a height and under a mug of cold beer.

Wet and washed from dirt and dust, elephants are almost black. I won't comment further, just look at the pictures. And don't forget to take the TV with you if you go, it will come in handy.

Elephants in Sri Lanka live in several places, and one of them, quite famous, is the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, which is an hour's drive from the city of Kandy. After we visited and, we spent the night in a very cozy Linwood Bungalow hotel for only $20. Already in the morning we collected all our things and set off on our moped to the elephant nursery, and after that we went further, to Nuwara Eliya, to admire mountain beauties Sri Lanka.

There are several options, and they all depend on where you will be getting from. If from the city Kandy options tuk-tuk or by yourself on a moped, it takes about an hour and a half to go. Pinnawala is located 70 kilometers from Colombo. Buses and trains run from there.

  • By train

Near Pinnawala (2 km) is the Rambukkana railway station. It can be reached directly from Colombo and Kandy or with a change in Colombo from any other railway station.

  • By bus

There are no direct buses to Pinnawala, you will have to change in the cities of Kegalle or Kurunegala. Buses run quite often, you should not be afraid and ask the locals or the bus conductors how to get to the place you need.

If you are traveling from Colombo, you need to take buses - 1 (Colombo - Kandy) or 1-1 (Colombo - Kegalle Kegalle) at the Colombo bus station and get to the city of Kegalle. Next, you need to transfer to bus number 881 to Pinavella. Estimated travel time is 4 hours.

If you are traveling from Kandy, you need to take bus number 1 at the bus station and get to Kegalle, then transfer to bus number 881. Estimated travel time is 2 hours.

  • By taxi

How much does it cost to enter the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Admission is Rs 2,500 for adults and Rs 1,000 for children. This price includes only watching the elephants, how they eat and bathe in the river.

There is even a schedule for feeding and bathing them, and it is recommended to drive up to this time, since nothing particularly interesting happens the rest of the time.

  • 9:00 - feeding, 10:00 - bathing
  • 13:00 - feeding, 14:00 - bathing

We arrived at 12, and for almost an hour we wandered around in the heat, it was simply unbearably hot there, and even in the very sun.

You will not be able to ride elephants for any money, as there is simply no such service here. If you really want to ride an elephant, you can approach any nursery worker and ask where you can ride an elephant. Almost everyone will arrange to meet you after your visit to the nursery and take you to a nearby private farm, where you can already ride elephants, approximate price 1000 rupees for 1 ride, but you can also bargain.

What a story happened to us - we arrived at the nursery, decided to go to the store for water, when two Sri Lankans immediately approached us and insistently began to tell that we can go to their elephant farm, from there you can see elephants bathing in the river, and also for 2000 rupees we can ride an elephant at the bottom. We decided to go and see what they offer us. Yes, their farm was on the banks of the river, but the river itself curved a little, so it seemed to us that we would not see all the elephants bathing, and there are as many as 80 of them in the nursery! And in this so-called farm there was only one small elephant, honestly, it was even a pity to climb on it. In the end, we refused and went to buy tickets to the elephant nursery.

One more word of caution - very often, we read about it on the Internet before going here, and while driving to the elephant orphanage ourselves - we met other farms with elephants, and if you don’t know in advance what exactly that big elephant orphanage in Pinnawala looks like, here -tukers can take you to another, to a private nursery, they have an agreement with all the owners there. Therefore, be vigilant!

More than 80 elephants live in this elephant nursery. elephant nursery was founded in 1975 to help baby elephants who were in the jungle without mothers. But in the future, the nursery was replenished with elephants that were injured during the civil war and suffered from poachers. And of course, little elephants were born in the nursery. As a result, this orphanage became the largest in the world in terms of the number of elephants kept in captivity. Of course, it is sad to realize this, but still, the elephants were helped here once, and everything could have ended worse.

So, we successfully bought entrance tickets, the clock was about 12.20, that is, another half an hour before feeding the elephants and their further bathing. We entered the territory, the sun was mercilessly scorching so hard that we ran out of the shade for a few minutes to take pictures with the elephants. After entering the territory, we all walked and walked in the hope of seeing a lot of elephants, and finally we saw open space, where there were many elephants, they walked one after another, some ate something. It is very beautiful here, mountains are visible in the distance, we spent half an hour here, and then we went to feed the little elephants.

Two nursery workers bottle fed two baby elephants. It was so sweet, it can't even be described in words. We really enjoyed.

Prices in such cafes are 4-5 times higher than in ordinary ones. Well, what to do, we each took a fresh juice and waited for the arrival of the elephants. I want to note that elephants on the way to the river from their nursery cross the roadway, and when we were riding mopeds to the elephant nursery, the police blocked the road for us, because elephants were walking. This is very unusual for us! I even took a video of it. Can you imagine, you are stopped by the police and right in front of you, about 80 elephants cross the road? Interesting show 🙂

We waited for the elephants! They slowly but surely went swimming. Some lay down in the water on their side, others doused themselves with water, and the third were cleaned and washed by local workers.

We either sat in a cafe, then descended closer to the elephants, in a small fenced area you can get very close to them. While my husband and I were taking pictures near the elephants, a man with bananas approached me and asked if I wanted to feed the elephant, I replied that I did and asked how much bananas cost. He said they cost 200 rupees. There was a bunch of small bananas, probably 12 pieces. The price suited me, he gave me bananas and I handed them to the elephant. One by one, he very quickly took them with his trunk and ate them. We barely had time to take a photo and a short video.

While I was feeding him, the elephant broke the fencing chain and gradually began to step on me. Then the bananas ended, and the elephant kept pulling and pulling his trunk towards me. The same man who sold me bananas came to my aid, he scared him a little and the elephant went behind the fence. I really enjoyed feeding the elephant!

We looked at the bathing of elephants for another 20 minutes and decided to go further to Nuwara Eliya, since the time was about 4 in the afternoon, and we needed to have time to get on our moped before dark.

We really liked the elephant nursery, I immediately included this place in the list of places to visit on the island of Sri Lanka, when I was still in Russia. It's such a soulful place. beautiful nature, amazing elephants, they are also called the biggest good-natured people in the world. This turned out to be a small merger with nature, or rather, short-lived, but we still remember this place as one of the most interesting places Sri Lanka.