Pinnawala
Pinnawela is a small village in the Kegalle district on the banks of the Mahaoya River. Pinnawala is home to the world famous elephant orphanage ‘Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage’. Spread over a 25 acre coconut property on the banks of the river, the orphanage is home to over 90 elephants of the Elephants Maxims genus.
Originally founded by the Department of Wildlife and located at the Wilpattu National Park to care for orphaned or injured elephants the orphanage has since been relocated and come under the purview of the Department of Zoological Gardens which now also runs a successful breeding program at the orphanage since 1982.
Visitors to the orphanage can enjoy feeding time which includes the bottle feeding of the baby elephants after which the herd visits the river twice a day,where visitors can enjoy watching the elephants frolicking in the river deemed as a ‘must see’ attraction.
The Orphanage also supports an elephant dung paper manufacturing industry in the area, branded as “Pachyderm”, which provides an income to people of Pinnawala.
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