Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is the home for about 60 elephants, out of which many are baby elephants found, abandoned or orphaned in the wild. They are being cared, fed and trained by the wild life authorities. The best time to visit is during the feeding times, when one will have the opportunity of seeing the baby elephants being bottle-fed. Also could accompany the elephants to a river close-by and see the elephants having their daily bath.

It was started in 1975 by the Department of Wildlife on a twenty five acre coconut property on the Maha Oya river at Rambukkana. The orphanage was primarily designed to afford care and protection to the many baby elephants found in the jungle without their mothers. In most of these cases the mother had either died or been killed. In some instances the baby had fallen into a pit and in others the mother had fallen in and died. Initially this orphanage was at the Wilpattu National Park, then shifted to the tourist complex at Benttota and then to the Dehiwala Zoo. From the Zoo it was shifted to Pinnawela. At the time it was shifted the orphanage had five baby elephants which formed its nucleus. It was hoped that this facility would attract both local and foreign visitors, the income from which would help to maintain the orphanage. In 1978 the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage was taken over by the National Zoological Gardens from the Department of Wildlife and a captive breeding program launched in 1982. At Pinnawela an attempt was made to simulate, in a limited way, the conditions in the wild. Animals are allowed to roam freely during the day and a herd structure allowed to form. The Department of National Zoological Gardens has set up an orphanage for baby elephants at Pinnawela which is about 13 Km. from Kegalle Town. on the Kegalle- Rambukkana Road. Kegalle is 77 Km. from Colombo on the Colombo- Kandy road and the turn off to the orphanage is at the Karandupona Junction. The orphanage was established to feed, nurse and house young elephants found abandoned by their mothers. Often the young ones fall into pits and ravines in their quest for water during drought period. Other inmates at the orphanage are those displaced from their natural environs by development projects or those found diseased or wounded. The orphanage is 16 years old. The animals that were brought during the initial years are now capable of breeding and have in fact bred.