We walked in briskly, not wanting to miss the most interesting event here at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka – feeding milk to baby elephants. We were keenly looking out for the signposts directing us to the “Milk Feeding” area. We soon saw a little hut with a thatched roof, under which several baby elephants were either waiting impatiently or were in the process of being fed milk from bottles by Mahoots (elephant handlers). It was surrounded by people with their cameras clicking.

We approached the hut and stood watching the baby elephants being fed. A man stood on a side with a huge metal can of milk from which he poured the milk into empty glass whisky bottles. The Mahoots collect the filled-up milk bottles as he placed the empty ones near the can.

It was amazing to watch the baby elephants being fed. As the bottle is brought, the baby elephants run towards it with its little trunks up, their mouths open and their tongues literally hanging out. And they gulp down the milk at a super fast rate – almost at the blink of an eye, soon to be replaced by another bottle. The little elephants can hardly wait for the refill. They kept swaying from side to side waving its trunks around making little grunting noises! You can almost hear it say, “quick, quick”!

Once fed and happy it was bath time. All the elephants were gather to together and marched across the road to the river to be bathed. Clouds of dust rose all around as the elephants thudded across the gravel road. It was amazing to see how orderly they went to the river. Some of them were holding the tails of the others by their trunks just as human kids would hold hands. Trumpeting gaily as they ran lifting up clouds of dust in their wake. The Mahoots shouted commands at the naughtier baby elephants who were running in all directions in their excitement to reach the river.

Once at the river they practically dived in with glee. Enjoying the cool of the water. The larger elephants submerged themselves almost completely in the water with just their trunks visible while the baby elephants romped around.

After a while the Mahoots also got into the water to bath the elephants. We watched as the elephants waiting meekly while their handlers scrubbed them with huge brushes and bathed them with buckets of water. One could not imagine how tame they were, specially not after all that trumpeting and running. We watched entranced as the elephants enjoyed their baths, splashing each other. The baby elephants stomped around, stumbling and falling in the river, squirting water through their trunks making a mini fountain and trumpeting in glee.

When bath time was over, no sooner the instructions were given, in the same way they had come they meekly got out of the water and made their way to the orphanage. Of course, the Mahoots were there by their side with their rather ominous looking sticks with hooks on top, in case they did ran amok, after all there were so many spectators around they could not afford to have an elephant stampede. We were somewhat comforted by their presence as we certainly did not want to be trampled by one of these enormous animals!!

We learnt that the little baby elephants we saw as well as the larger ones in the Pinnawella Elephant Orphanage are those that have been abandoned by their mothers or isolated. The Orphanage feeds, nurses and houses them. Some of these elephants have been found at the bottom of pits where they have fallen in their quest to find water. During the drought periods water is scarce and the elephants go looking for water in pits etc. Some of the elephants have been displaced due to development activities. A few of these elephants had just been abandoned due to disease or had been wounded.

Wild elephants are very dangerous. Those who are injured or captured or kept in captivity are unpredictable and can be even more dangerous than those in the wild. At the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, elephants, mainly baby elephants, who have been orphaned are taken care of. Due to the danger they pose to people, some of them are chained. Since elephants can only be managed by authoritarian commands, the handlers have to shout in loud voices to keep them under control. These factors sometimes puts off visitors who feel that it is abusive and cruel. However chaining and shouting is necessary to keep them under control. After all we do not want to be chased by a disobedient elephant do we?

The Pinnawella Elephant Orphange in Sri Lanka is a lovely place to visit. You can feed them milk, you can pet them and watch them being bathed. Some visitors dislike elephants being confined and chained. Having spoken to the Mahoots we realized that they love these animals like their own children. However just like the errant child they needed to be disciplined. They said they rarely used the hooks but they needed to shout to get them to be obedient. 

I hope one day you too would visit the Pinnawella Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka and enjoy the experience just as much as we did.

Useful Information:

Location: Pinnawala, Kegalle – 90 Km from Colombo

Open 8.30 am – 6 pm (ticket counter closes at 4.30)

Program:

9.15 : Bottle feeding of Milk

10 am – Bath time

12 noon – Return after bath

1.15pm – Feeding

2 pm – Bath to the river

5 pm – Feeding

Website:

http://nationalzoo.gov.lk/elephantorphanage