It was in July 2011, I
took my 78yr old mother to Sri Lanka and
we had a week-long most enjoyable trip.
One of the attractions was the Pinnawala (Pinnawela) Elephant
Orphanage (PEO) .
It was for the first
time in life we went to such a place where orphan baby elephants and other adult orphaned elephants were taken good care by animal loving volunteers. We can never forget
the the entire day we spent with adult and baby elephants .
We reached the PEO by
A1 Colombo-Kandy main road. A turn off at the 82 km post at Kegalla led to the orphanage. The closest Railway station is at
Rambukkana 2km away from the village of Pinnawala.
The main purpose of the
orphanage has been to provide a lifeline to the orphaned baby elephants and
adult elephants lost in the wilderness. In most of the occasions the mother of
the orphaned baby elephants had been killed, according to the elephant caretakers.
We found different
stories for different elephants ---
there have been accidents of baby elephants falling into pits and losing out to
the herd or there were instances the mother elephant had fallen into a pit and
died leaving the baby elephant lost in the jungle. There were also instances of adult elephants being killed by
farmers to protect their paddy fields and crops resulting in baby elephants
orphaned.
The primary purpose of the orphanage has been
to provide a lifeline to the orphaned baby elephants and adult elephants lost
in the wilderness. In most of the occasions the mother of the orphaned baby
elephants had been killed; and then there have been accidents of baby elephants
falling into pits and losing out to the herd; and there were instances the
mother elephant had fallen into a pit and died leaving the baby elephant lost
in the jungle. There are instances of adult elephants being killed by farmers
to protect their paddy fields and crops resulting in baby elephants orphaned.
It was heartening to see the PEO fully geared
to provide an environment of happy and healthy life to these herbivorous
animals.
Visiting PEO was a
great opportunity to enjoy the spectacle
up close a large herd of elephants interacting together.
The highlight is the
elephants at the bathing hours: at 10.00 am and 2.00 pm daily, the animals are
walked 400 meters to the river Maha Oya. The visitors seated on the steep rocky
banks of the river, are afforded the opportunity, to enjoy the sight of the
herd of elephants bathing and playing at the river.
The bathing hours are followed up with the
feeding hour at the main center of the orphanage. Baby elephants are bottle
fed. Everyday some 10 selected visitors have a chance of
bottle feeding milk to the baby elephants.
The adult
animals are fed with green matter made of leaves weighing no less than
75 kg which include Coconut leaves
, Jackfruit leaves, branches and logs of
Kitul palm tree, tamarind and grass. Over and above that
quantity, elephants are also fed with 2kg of a food mixture containing maize,
rice bran, powdered gingelly seed and minerals, the authorities said.
Several volunteers from different countries come here and help the orphanage authorities. There are also some international researchers working on their projects. Very interesting place.
By Lalitha Vaidyanathan (LV)Photos and videos also by LV
.JPG)
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