Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka
3.5 (4.066 reviews) Sunday: 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM Spent More than 3 hours Ranking #1 in Pinnawala Nature & Wildlife Areas
Pinnawala Elephant town
We planned a one day stay at Pinnawala as we heard that the kids can enjoy bottle feeding the baby animals and also bathing them in the river. We visited the orphanage and were disappointed that there is no bottle feeding , just simple zoo like feeding and you had to pay to get some food to feed the elephants. It was sporadically raining during the visit and thus again we were disappointed that on rainy days the elephants do not make the trip to the river for bathing as the water level rises.
Address
B199, Pinnawala 71100 Sri Lanka
Mobile
Website
http://nationalzoo.gov.lk/elephantorphanage/
Working hours
Monday : 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday : 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday : 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday : 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday : 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday : 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday : 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Current local date and time now
Sunday, May 05, 2024, 19:15
User Ratings
3.5 based on (4.066 reviews)
Reviews
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3Joshua D 5:00 PM Jul 18, 2022
A mixed review
A bit of a mixed review. I do agree with lots of the reviews here, its not an elephant orphanage, its a tourist attraction. Its clear the Elephants are trained , some of them are chained to rocks in order to tame them around people, we did see some not so nice treatment of elephants, which at times was uncomfortable. On the flip side to this, as someone who has never been close to Elephants before it was amazing to see so many in the river playing. It was definitely an experience and to be honest I don't regret going but Im not 100% sure if I would go again just because of the animal treatment. Also be aware - this is 100% a money making tourist attraction. We stayed in the hotel right on the water (thats another review in itself..) but when we arrived if we wanted to go to our hotel we had to pay an entry fee to the 'park' then if you want a photo or to touch or feed the elephants, its made out this is fine but you're then demanded to pay the staff , and they want more than you give them. A tough one to review, as a brit it did seem a little odd and hard to tell what treatment the animals get, but it was an experience we wont forget - so I think you have to make your mind up based on the reviews.
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3LizzyLeeton 5:00 PM Mar 15, 2020
Some parts were great but there was a little disquiet about it.
I'm not too sure what I thought about this place. The elephants have been 'rescued' and they appear happy enough but I had the vague feeling thye were like peforming elephants in a zoo. It is a geat expeirence to being down a thoroughfre and suddenly a small herd of elephants (with their handlers) wlk past you. It was great too to see them behaving quite natrally in the water. But there were some moments of disquiet. Some of the elephants are chained, and I accept and understand why, but it does leave an impression. A couple of the elephants are also forced to lie down in the water for the benefit of the crowd which I was not sure of either. Still, it was an experience althougha bit expensive, 3000 rupees per foreigner. If you want the experience of feeding a quiet elephant, you can also do that for 250 rupees. There are no elephant rides and I was pleased about that. Finally watch out for a scam with the mahouts (handlers). They will try to isolate you away from the crowd and lead you up into an area by yourself. They then offer to photograph you with an elephant by yourself but won't return your camera/iphone until you pay them money. I was offered this a couple of times but did not do it. I did see a family forking out a few thousand rupees to one of them so watch out for it.
