You are here: Home / Destinations / ELEPHANT TRANSIT HOME - UDAWALWE
Some of you may have visited the Elephant Transit Home (ETH), Eth Athuru Sevana, at the Udawalawe National Park. If you have been there, you would know just what a joyful experience it is to observe at close range all the elephants, especially the little ones, who reside there.
This experience would now be available from a new location as well. You may have heard that a lot of orphaned and destitute baby elephants have been found in the wilds of the North and North Central Provinces. A new Elephant Transit Home (ETH) would be built at Ritigala Yaan Oya to house the elephants found from these two provinces.
According to Wildlife Conservation Department sources, construction work of this Eth Athuru Sevana is expected to be completed by the middle of this year. It would provide a bigger home for elephants than the transit home at Udawalawe which can accommodate only 20 to 25 elephants.
However, it is currently providing accommodation to 39 elephants due to the return of some of its former inmates to the transit home after being released into the wilds.
Some of these baby jumbos have been transferred to Pinnawala due to the lack of facilities at the Udawalawe ETH. Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage authorities are said to have requested the Wildlife Department to provide it with more elephants from the Wildlife Department’s transit homes.
The elephant population in the Udawalawe Park had increased from 76 elephants in 1991 to 700 by the end of 2008.
The Eth Athuru Sevana ETH is not your typical elephant orphanage. For instance, it couldn’t be more different from the better known Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. “At Pinnawala the elephants have limited freedom. That is the concept of the ETH. At the ETH we raise elephants in semi wild conditions and release them when the time comes. Some elephants released are fixed with radio collars which would transmit a pulse to help locate their wearers’ position. It is also equipped with a mortality sensor and this apparatus is used to check on the progress of the elephants that now have to fend for themselves in the unforgiving wilderness. Many more baby elephants willing to release in the near future.
 " Our Tour in Sri Lanka Traveling through the beautiful Sri Lanka has been great. Cyril warmly welcomed us at the airport and drove us with his always clean car in every part of the country. He provided daily information about the history and the different sites of Sri Lanka. Also, he taught us a lot about Sri Lankan culture, starting from food, traditions, animals and nature, and suggested authentic and less known places we c..." FILIPPO MASI FROM ITALY
 "We had a exellent and memorable trip. That all credit to you Cyril.Indepth knowledge about the place, roads, Culture and history. Very matuared and patient. We were in very safe hands on all the time. Thanks a lot, mainly it's memorable expeirience for all of us. We always recomond CYRIL TOURS to our friends and relatives in Dubai and in India." Awdhesh Kumar and gruop
 " Hi Cyril We have had a fabulous holiday driven and guided by Cyril from CYRIL TOURS. Hotel recommendations were perfect and knowledge supertb. We would happy to introduce CYRIL TOURS to our frieinds and relatives. Thank you for the photos you are taken and send to us, they are a great reminder of our amazing experience in Sri Lanka. We had a truly memorable time and we are grateful to you for all your knowledge and guidance throughout our trip, it would not have been..." Mr. Richard & Mrs. Bridget Simson and family from
 "We would like to say thank you very much Mr. Cyril for the excellent 7 night tour of Sri Lanka you provided us. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Sri Lanka and the itinerary you arranged. The four hotels (Earls Regency, Amaya Lake, Heritance Kandalama and the Colombo Hilton) were excellent and thoroughly deserved their 5 stars. Your driving skills was excellent. Also very friendly, calm, helpful, and courteous and always prompts. Sri Lanka is a lovely country and the people were very friendly. ..." Suresh and Prashanth
 "We found Cyril on-line and after checking with lots of other guides we decided he is the one for us, that decision was the best one we did for our trip From the beginning, in our emails, Cyril listen to us and was very helpful, he gave us information and helped us to create the best trip for us.We had 10 days trip, for our honeymoon, to many parts of Sri-Lanka. the country is amazing, green, nice people and good food.Cyril was a great driver and even greater guide, he has so much knowledge and e..." Coral and Oded from Israel
 "We had an excellent and memorable trip and all credits to Cyril. In-depth knowledge about the places, roads and history and culture. From the airport assistance - Food, accommodation provided and the vehicle was excellent. Very matured and patient, We being on safe hands. Thanks for making it a memorable experience for all of us. " Aubry De Souza and group from Dubai
 "Dear Cyril, We just got back to Singapore today...I am will be back to work tomorrow.. :) Sad but true ha ha……. We were very lucky to have you as our guide. I don’t think there will be anyone else who could have done an excellent job that you have done. We will spread the word around and will surely sell your services...do keep in touch so we can work something out. Thanks for the photos they are great Will visit your website soon and put in some good words for you.. Ti..." Shuhanth Haridas from Singapore
 "Dear Cyril, Yes that's the one that we were calling all the time. Her name is Celia and by now she has a little sister. My dear Cyril, of course we can't forget your companion and we are always telling about you when we are talking about our trip to Sri Lanka. I wish you good luck with your company and I hope that you will have whatever you want. I want to tell also that I was very happy when I learned that you are a grandfather now. Best regards, Chris Greece 26/07/2011" Cristos Pravitas - Greece
 "I want to thank Mr. Cyril for this 17 days long tour. He is an excellent chauffeur guide, always on time with a car more than the clean. He knows all the places in the Island and organized very well. Most of all, he is very kind person, always with a smile and ready to help. I want to reccommond him to all my friends. Ria Deleu Belgium Travel period 25 Jan 2020 - 10 Feb 2020 ( 17 days)" Mrs. Ria Deleu from Belgium
 "Hello, We had 2 weeks exploring Sri Lanka and for most of that time Cyril drove for usto various towns, sites of interest. Cyril wsa a very pleasant chauffeur. Always prompt and greeted us with a smile. He was well informed about the sites we visited and pointed out many interesting historical buildings en-route. We had a great 2 weeks in Sri Lanka and Cyril's plesant and helpful nature contributed to this briliant holiday. Thank Cyril Sara and Steve from Birmingham, England" Sara and Steve