Day 1b | Pinnawala - Elephant Orphanage

Yup! Some of you have guessed it right, I went to Sri Lanka recently and 3 things came to my mind on this beautiful country.


1. Full of surprises
2. Underestimate
3. Impressive culture


The list is longer obviouly, but this would be my top 3, I will share the details in entries to come. Worry not.


If you notice, my entry starts with 'Day 1b'. You must be wondering what happened to 'Day 1a'? Well, I am SO/TOO excited (as excited as my very first experience last week [still]) that I can't wait to tell you this amazing experience I had. I was practically screaming like lunatic, jumping up and down, running here and there (maybe even everywhere).... too bad there's no free wifi else I would have Instagramed, Pinterested, Facebooked, Blogged, Tweeted this new 'riak' experience of mine. Drama giler, ntah-ntah nih entry potong steam... hahhahahha.... #drama jek lebih, tapi kalau nak tau, sila baca dan lihat sampai habis ok!


* No iPad3 give-away ler!

I went to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, which originally I was very sure I did not want to even stop-by (I will tell you why in 'Day 1a' entry, ada prequel tuh) simply because, I have seen elephant(s) before either in Cambodia, India, Thailand, Malaysia etc. To me, it's all the same. Little did I know this place is special and unique (remember I said earlier on "full of surprises"). Here's my story at this heart warming elephant orphanage...

* The journey takes a few hours as the road is small, winding and bumpy

** By km it is relatively near but due to road condition, it doubled in terms of time

Elephant injured by bombing.

This elephant orphanage was founded by Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation in 1975, their main purpose is for feeding and providing care and sanctuary to orphaned baby elephants that were found in the wild and to injured elephants. They have about 80+ elephants to date.

The above elephant was injured by bomb/land mine, now he faces walking difficulty due to human selfishness. I saw sadness in his eyes, sigh...

There are also other common activities such as feeding the baby elephant. 

I was brought to see a tusker, which initially I wasn't impressed. Normally a tuskers are given the privilege to carry the gold casket (will have an entry on this as well) during holy festival. What surprises me is that this particular tusker is blind hence he is being cared at this orphanage. Pretty lonely and helpless for such a strong and beautiful creature. Agak kesian jugak. Argh.... OK! I walked away quickly before I get teary eye.

National Geography cameraman?

That's about all there is to see here. Thus, I decided to get myself some souvenirs before going to the next attraction. And this is where the bigger and larger surprise(s) pop-up in front of my eyes.

As I was selecting fridge magnets for friends and family (Yeah! #travelholicawesome nye ada beli *wink*), I was being asked to move inside the shop quickly, I asked why!? He said that elephants are passing by shortly from bathing at the river. Hemmm..... (I can't visualise what he meant).

* Please purchase your fridge magnet souvenirs here as it's cheaper and offer more choices

OK! This caught me by surprise, to see herd of elephants passing by souvenir shops was... shocking. Stunned for a few minutes before regaining my composure, thus resulted to taking only their tushy picture. Oh yah! They pooed as they walk. Hehhehehe..... cute huh! 

Wait! Not done yet! The guy then asked me to wait as the next batch coming - bathing time.

Here they come..... I let you see for yourselves.

My very first experience of such wonder. 

Baby elephant!!! 

By then, I ahve moved myself to the restaurant located by the river. 

Can you see the river?

Tusker have their own private bathing 'pool'. Hehhehee.... 

In this hot weather, I too feel like joining them!

After awhile, they do allow you to go slightly nearer. 

Sunbathing! 

Tusker privilege spa treatment - body scrub!

Then... I saw this scene. Take note on the elephant on the right, the next picture show the rest of the herds.

I felt as if I was in African safari!