The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka was previously known as Ceylon under the successive colonial administrations of the Portuguese, Dutch and British. They won their independence in 1948 and in 1972 changed the republic’s name to honor the islands traditional name. The island’s largest ethnic group is the Sinhalese who originated in Northern India. The largest minority population is the Tamil, who originate in Southern India. Tensions between the two communities erupted into open warfare in the 1980’s. The conflict persisted until a truce was signed in May, 2009. Over 70,000 died in the conflict.
In 1975, the Pinnawalla Elephant Orphanage was established to care for orphaned elephants and to provide a breeding ground for wild elephants. With the outbreak of civil war in the 1980’s the orphanage also took on the medical care and rehabilitation of elephants wounded or maimed in the conflict. Subsequently, they have also taken on the care and protection of elephants wounded or maimed by ivory poachers. Many males had had their tusks removed.
When Frances read about the orphanage, she insisted that we go see it and the elephants … and so we did. We rode three hours inland from Colombo to the Pinnawalla Elephant Orphanage.
There are about 80 elephants currently under the care of the orphanage. There is some form of illness among the baby elephants. So, we were not able to see them. However, in the morning we watched them bath. (Note: in the photos below you will see some elephants with a chain around their neck extending to their fore leg. This is a precaution as these are not tame elephants. No harm is done to the elephants.)
After lunch we were able to observe the elephants loose in their habitat. (Note: you may note in a couple of the pictures below that a few of the elephants were as interested in Frances as she was in them!)
