The Pinnawala Elephant orphanage

The Pinnawala Elephant orphanage

                 The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is in the Kegalle District.  The road that leads to the orphanage is about two kilo metres from Kegalle town,  on the Kandy Road It was started in 1975.  There are baby and adult elephants in the orphanage.  They are all rescued elephants.  Farmers shoot at elephants when they come to their villages.  Sometimes they throw fire brands to scare them away.  Some elephants fall into pits,  wells and water holes.  when they come in search of water in the dry season.  Some injured elephants fall on the way.  They cannot get up because of pain,  hunger and thirst.  Such elephants are rescued and brought to the orphanage.  Every morning the elephants walk in a line to the Maha Oya for bathing,  like school children going for the morning assembly.  They love to be in the water for a long time They look like rocks when they lie in water.  The mahouts scrub,  brush and rub their bodies with coconut husks.  The playful little ones spray and splash water on each other.  The baby elephants below one year are the infants.  Those between 1 year and 5 years are calves.  The male adults are bulls and the female adults are cows.  An infant drinks 5 litres of milk at a time.  They are bottle fed five times a day.  The adults eat fodder,  coconut leaves,  jak leaves and kitul trunks.  You can spend hours and hours watching them.