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Elephant Orphanage is an unfamiliar terminology, but it’s absolutely true and real. The secluded premises dedicated to provide a natural habitat for captive elephant’s weeks old babies to fifty-year-old parents and grandparents. The herd can be sited in the orphanage-only place of its kind of this population on earth to date. The elephant orphanage in Pinnawala to witness the feeding to the baby elephants. The elephant orphanage is about 2 and half hours drive from the hotel IN Colombo or Negombo and good chance for a people to get up close and personal with the pachyderm.
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is an orphanage and breeding ground established in 1975 for abandoned elephants in Sri Lanka. Currently its home to one of the largest elephant herds in captivity in the world with more than 85 elephants. Pinnawala was first established by Wild Life department Of Sri Lanka in 1975 on a 24- acre preserve near the town of Kegalle, halfway between Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka and Kandy. Its main purpose was to feed and provide care sanctuary to orphaned baby elephants that were found in wild. In 1978, the orphanage was taken over by the Department of National Zoological Gardens, and in 1982 breeding program was lunched. The river the ‘Maha Oya’ by the side of the orphanage plays a vital role and enable the elephants to mix and choose their partners. The inmates of the orphanage were generally brought in their early ages, and they were victims of the confrontation either with the humans or the nature. Causes of nature are primarily due to desperate search for water, and muddy fields are traps for these innocent creatures.
Every activity of the Pinnawala elephant orphanage has been planned to a timetable. The baby elephants are bottle fed at 0915 a.m. The gates are opened for visitors at 8.30 a.m., while the elephants take the stride to the valley nearby and to the eastern side of the orphanage. They could settle to move about in freedom, as many enjoy the mud/dust bath. At around 10.00 a.m. the herd of elephants move to the river for a refreshing bath. The river – ‘Maha Oya’ – is the third largest river in Sri Lankan, in terms of volume of water carried to sea. By 1.15 p.m. baby elephants receive another dose of milk while grown-up elephants receive snake of pellets. At 2.00 p.m. the elephants proceed to the river and remain bathing until 4.00 p.m. After this refreshing dip they return to the sheds.
At this time elephants receive their routine feed of foliage comprised of Kitul Palm and trunk, Coconut palm and Jack tree including other varieties of plants of the big family.
The average quantity of food intake of a grown-up elephant is 300 kg of foliage and 200 liters of water daily. Baby elephants feed on formula II powdered milk 5.5 liters as a time to make total of 27.5 liters a day. They normally get 2-3 meals in the night depending on the age and size.
More orphans join the orphanage year by year the captive population grows and the breeding continues in the orphanage. The Pinnawala Orphanage has recorded sixteen elephant births. The birth statistics reveal that there was only one mortality stillbirth, within its 24 years of operation.
The river possesses the characteristics that provide an ideal bathing atmosphere to elephants. The rocky bottom of the river provides isolated swallow pools, where elephants dip to splash and bathe. The water level generally is 1/2-meter-high and the river provide continuous flow of water in the dry months – February, July and August except in November and June where the volume would fluctuate.
It is good idea to go and have your lunch by the river while bathing elephants.
"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
"Thank you so much for wonderful Sri Lanka trip.We had a great time. The trip was very relaxing as well as fun. My daughter MAHI who lovingly started calling you "Cyril Dada"(grand farther) Had a memorable trip. She cannot stop talking about elephants. Our trip to Sri Lanka will be full of great memories, its because of you. Thank you for showing us your beautiful country the way we wanted, eating local food, lots of King coconut and Corn stops. We will be surely coming back to see rest o..." Mithil Patel
"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
"CyrilWe are now back at home after the lovely time with you in Sri Lanka, andvisiting Hong Kong.Thank you for driving for us while we were in Sri Lanka.In particular, we appreciated - your smooth, calm and efficient driving through varied traffic conditions - your calmness when things did not go quite as expected - your being available at all times of day - I'm remembering our late arrival at the airport, and our late departure - your information about all sorts of ..." Cliff Hooker and Jean from Australia
" 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
"Hi Mr.Cyril, Hope you and family and grandchild are doing fine. Hope to come to Sri Lanka again. We really enjoyed our trip especially with your special help and guidance. We will definitely contact you if at all we wish to visit Sri Lanka again. Thanks & Best Regards Mr. & Mrs.Pillai Singapore 29/7/11 " Mr & Mrs.Pillai from Singapore
"Dear Cyril, Thank you for truly amazing oneweek tour your beautiful country.We have seen so many amazing sites in such a short space of time. From Sigiriya to beautiful temples, Scenic tea gardens of Nuwaraeliya the colonial land ark hotel Mount Lavinia. We have seen so much more. You have made this an utterly memorable holiday with your expert knowledge, amazing, facinating stories, patience, careful+safe drivingand your unforgetable smile. We will cetainly recommonding your tours to all of fr..." Sara Kitson - UK
"We are glad to meet Cyril. He is very kind and patient, very professional in his work. He have lot of knowledge about history of the places and the things that happened in Sri Lanka. He knows all the roads and places very well. Very friendly and stand on time. The tour he recommended us and places were excellent. He replied immediately for mails which we send. He was flexible when we asked him to stop in different places and to change our program. He speaks very good English and explanations..." Ruty Ben Haim from Isarel
"Thanks a lot for making great arrangements for the visit. The visit was very well organized with good hotels and the vehicle/ driver. I would highly recommend your agency and its services to everyone who wants to visit Sri Lanka. Anastasia - Russia, Feb 2011 " Anastasia
"Excellent tour guide Cyril is a great tour guide and is very knowledgeable. He made our entire trip super comfortable. His vehicles are clean and well maintained. He is also very flexible if changes are needed. Definitely recommend!" Berenice Coelho
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