Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage from Bentota

You will be starting your tour from your hotel in Bentota. Your chauffeur will pick you up at 6:00 am. You will then begin the three-and-a-half-hour journey to Pinnawala. Once you get there you will see the many orphaned baby elephants that have been rescued and are cared for at the facility. You will also be able to watch them being fed and bathed and possibly help with these duties as well.

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is the home for young Elephants who have been displaced or lost from their natural habitat, located at Pinnawala village in Sabaragamuwa province of Sri Lanka. Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage is the best place for an up close and personal experience with the world’s largest land mammals! Today with 70 elephants herein, Pinnawela has become the home to the largest captive group of elephants in the world. Feeding time at 9:15 am.

The Orphanage is open from 8.30am to 5.45pm and visitors can interact a little with the elephants during the regulated bathing and feeding times. The baby elephants gulp down several huge bottles of milk, fed to them by their mahouts, and then it’s off to the river for a bath. The inherent gentleness of the animals is most obvious during this time. Most of the elephants eventually become ‘working’ elephants, and some older females occasionally add a baby to the herd.

You will be spending approximately three hours at Pinnawala. Shortly after you arrive you will be able to take part in the feeding sessions with the elephants and later watch them bathe. You will also be walking around the orphanage seeing the facility and getting more information.

You will be finishing the tour at 11:00 am and returning to your hotel by 4:00 pm.