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Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Time Table

When you are visiting the orphanage time table is very important because then you can watch the Elephant procession to the river, see them bath and bottle feed baby Elephants without spending too much time at the sanctuary. This is the time table last time I visited but it is subject to change

TIME	*ACTIVITY*
08.30 AM	Opening time, Visitors can start entering
09.15 AM	Bottle feeding baby Elephants
10.00 AM	Going to the River
12.00 AM	Herd returns to the orphanage, the larger ones are fed
01.15 PM	The baby elephants are bottle fed again
02.00 PM	The herd again leaves for the river
04.00 PM	Herd returns from the river
05.00 PM	Bottle feeding of Baby Elephants
06.00 PM	Closing Time

As you can see if you time your trip you can get involved in all the activities without spending a lot of time. Bottle feeding baby Elephants is definitely something you should see and get involved in.

milk feeding

acts and History of the Orphanage

The orphanage was founded in 1975 by the Department of Wildlife Conservation to rehabilitate orphaned calves and injured Elephants. This became critical during the war period when the number of injured Elephants rose quickly because of land mines etc. Soon it because a tourist attraction and now there are many activities available for visitors. It’s a popular Elephant research center and you can arrange special viewing facilities.

How to Get to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

If you are coming from Colombo, take the Colombo – Kandy highway. After passing Kegalle there is a left turn, there are plenty of signs so its hard to miss. It will take around 1.5 hours to reach there from Colombo, more if you get caught up in traffic.

https://www.google.lk/maps/dir/Pinnawala+Elephant+Orphanage,+B199,+Rambukkana/7.3016502,80.3868122/@7.3009692,80.3521366,13z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m5!1m1!1s0x3ae315c83a2c0273:0xa5744b525ada1e6c!2m2!1d80.3871563!2d7.3009705!1m0

Feeding Times and Bathing Times

This section was added because many people ask what is the best time to visit the orphanage. I personally enjoyed viewing the procession of elephants going to the river and bathing. The river is a picturesque place and perfect for taking pictures. But I know quite a few people who enjoyed feeding baby elephants. If you take a look at the time table you can see that it is possible to enjoy both these activities in around 2 hours. So I’d say 9.00AM to 11.00AM and 4.00PM to 6.00PM as the best times to visit the orphanage.

Research and Volunteers

The orphanage has the largest captive Elephant herd in the world. So it’s a popular destination for Elephant researchers. During my visits I have seeing some people actively getting involved in bathing and feeding the Elephants. After some inquiries I learned that they are volunteers from some foreign university. So there is the opportunity and volunteer and get involved more if you’re a big Elephant fan.