Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

This is my 4^th visit to Kandy and I promised myself that although my main reason for coming here was to meet up with an old friend, I will also make sure that I get the chance to visit the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. I used to envy friends who have visited the place even on their first trip to Sri Lanka and for me who has been visiting this country for the nth time to always miss out on that place is such a disgrace!

After meeting Mr. Thenn during breakfast and promising to visit him after my trip to the orphanage I walked over to the bus station to search for bus # 662 bound for Kegalle. The LP guide spelled it wrongly, you are supposed to drop off at the Karudopone Junction (not Karandunpona) and the ride is not 1 hour but an hour and 15 minutes and the fare is 43 LKR. From the junction, it’s easy to catch bus #681 (fare to the gate is 12 LKR) bound for Rambukkana coz they always pass by every minute I think. After 10 minutes, you can stop at the orphanage gate.

Entrance for foreign adults is 2000 LKR and child is 1000 LKR. A bit steep but well, they have to employ a lot of people to take care of these elephants. I arrived right on time. I departed Kandy at 11:20am and was at the gate by 12:45pm. I had 15 minutes to spare before the 1pm bottle feeding time. There were a lot of tourists milling around taking photos.

For 250LKR (you pay at the ticket booth), you can bottle feed the elephants. There were only 2 elephants that time and tourists were taking turns feeding them. Too commercial, eh?

After that was a lull of about 30minutes till bathing time at 2pm. You have to come out of the Elephant Orphanage and cross the street, pass through the numerous souvenir shops lining the alley towards the river. Make sure that you have your ticket with you coz there is a checkpoint before going towards the river and the guard checks each person’s ticket.

Here's the orphanage schedule for reference;

Feeding time: 9:15am / 1:15pm / 4pm

Bathing Time: 10am / 2pm / 5pm

The river was quiet and calm, and then the thundering sound of running elephants ensued, it was such a glorious sight! They all ran towards the river and started splashing water. The baby elephants were tenderly looked after by the adults. I just kept on looking at them with awe. Amazing!

The trip is really worth it! A memory to treasure forever.