by HouseBoy
Audrey and Evan spent nine days traveling in Sri Lanka with Mom, Dad and their Grandma. It is an easy flight from New Delhi - only three hours away to Colombo. And it is in the same time zone! One of the kids' favorite stops happened early in this trip. We ventured to a place called Pinnawela. It is a large elephant orphanage near the small city of Kegalle.
The orphanage has over 60 elephants within its walls. They are brought here for many different reasons. Most have lost their parents, or have been injured, either through mistreatment or mishap.
Evan got to meet a blind elephant, named Raja. He was blind at birth, but has been taken care of at Pinnawela most of his life. Raja is a "tusker." This means he is a male with tusks. Unlike African elephants, only 5% of male Asian elephants have tusks, so they are treated as being very special!
Audrey and her Grandma really enjoyed seeing so many elephants up close. In most of the Orphanage there are no fences between visitors and the herd. Most of the time the males are kept in one area and the females and young elephants stay together as a group.
A rather naughty, young elephant named, Jumbo, is bottle fed several times a day. Visitors are allowed to help feed him... Jumbo didn't hesitate to take Evan up when he offered him a fresh palm frond!
Two times each day the elephant herd actually leaves the compound gates and crosses the main village road to travel down to the river. We followed them down to the river's edge to watch them play and bathe amid the rocks and water below. The elephants were visibly excited when they made the 1/2 kilometre journey to the river!
Audrey, Evan and I all agreed that it was quite a sight for us to see eighty elephants march down a narrow village street to the river! Definitely one of the highlights on our second visit to the small but beautiful country of Sri Lanka...
Audrey and Evan spent nine days traveling in Sri Lanka with Mom, Dad and their Grandma. It is an easy flight from New Delhi - only three hours away to Colombo. And it is in the same time zone! One of the kids' favorite stops happened early in this trip. We ventured to a place called Pinnawela. It is a large elephant orphanage near the small city of Kegalle.
The orphanage has over 60 elephants within its walls. They are brought here for many different reasons. Most have lost their parents, or have been injured, either through mistreatment or mishap.
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