Elephantine expedition

A day at Pinnawala:

by Sajitha Prematunge

Somebody should have warned me about the mud and the dung. But then again I guess I should have known when my friend said Pinnawala. And on top of all that it was drizzling, making the ground all gooey.

But seeing the baby elephants fighting with their own trunks and struggling to get the mud out of the eyes made up for all the discomforts.

The Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage was established in 1975 by the Department of Wildlife on a twenty five acre coconut property on the Maha Oya river at Rambukkana.

The orphanage was primarily designed to care for and protect the many orphaned baby elephants found in the wild. In most cases the mother had either died or was killed.

In some other cases the baby had fallen into a pit. Some have even been injured by land mines and later rescued by wild life officials, like Sama. And Raja from Anuradhapura, was blinded after being shot at, several times.

Initially this orphanage was at the Wilpattu National Park, then shifted to the tourist complex at Bentota and then to the Dehiwala Zoo. From the Dehiwala Zoo it was shifted to Pinnawela in 1975. Pinnawala has the largest herd of elephants in the world.

The first birth at Pinnawela was in 1984, a female, to Vijaya and Kumari who were aged 21 and 20 years respectively at the time of the birth. There are 84 adult elephants in Pinnawala and 42 babies. The community at Pinnawala benefits immensely from the orphanage due to the raised living standards.

The job opportunities that are created by the orphanage and the businesses that surround the orphanage have raised the living standards of not only the workers but their families as well. The orphanage has helped to put Pinnawala on the world map. Because it's a very sought after tourist destination, the infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, schools, etc... comes with the territory. Even the prize of real estate has sky rocketed since the orphanage was established.

I had the surprise of my life when one mahout invited me to touch one of the baby elephants. The baby elephant was not what I was worried about but its mother, whom I didn't want to cross. Elephants are known to be very protective of their babies. But when I did finally pluck enough courage to touch it, I realized that the baby elephant's hair is rougher than I thought.

The babies are fed milk in the mornings and allowed to range freely. Some six month old babies like Pali are known to steal milk right out of the bucket and are well monitored by the mahouts. I almost shrank from sheer fear when I was asked to stand beside an enormous elephant and pose for a photo. But not to worry because all the elephants of Pinnawala, though not tamed, are quite friendly.

Their food consists of leaves that are mainly coconut leaves, but also branches from Jakfruit and branches and logs of Kitul trees. Their baths in the morning and in the evenings are a sight to remember. Something one should never miss out on. They make their way to the nearby lake at a single command without any fuss what so ever.

Each morning and afternoon the animals walk 400 meters to the river Maha Oya for a two-hour bath. They wallow in the mud for over nearly two hours. Some of the memorable scenes I saw were adult elephants covering themselves with a pack of mud and dust so that no insect could penetrate, and baby elephants trying to prove their elephanthood by judging who can keep their siblings under water for the longest duration.

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