Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka

The Pinnawala orphanage is situated in Rambukkana, northwest of the town Kegalla, halfways between the present capitol Colombo and the ancient royal residence Kandy in the hills of central Sri Lanka.

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage 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.

At Pinnawala 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 baby Elephants getting their milk at 9:15 Am, after the feeding time all the Elephants proceed to the river where they take a bath.

Most of the elephants at Pinnawala are healthy and once attaining adulthood, will be sold or donated or retained for breeding. A few disabled elephants are given residential care. One tusker, Raja is blind, and one female, named Sama, lost her front right leg to a land mine.