Name: Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
Address: B199, Rambukkana 71100, Sri Lanka, LK
Telephone: +94 352 265 284

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is a point of interest, located at B199, Rambukkana 71100, Sri Lanka. They can be contacted via phone at +94 352 265 284, visit their website nationalzoo.gov.lk for more detailed information.

Location :

B199, Rambukkana 71100

Contacts :

Added by Jopie, at 23 February 2017

Monday 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Tuesday 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Wednesday 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Thursday 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Friday 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Saturday 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Sunday 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

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Sameera Bandara

06 May 2018

Best place to watch elephants very closely. Feeding, bathing ,their behavior can watch. And also feeding for baby elephants.ticket also not expensive for locals.clean bathroom facility. Good place for all ages, specially for kids.
Silvana Isnado

17 April 2018

This was one of the first places I went to when visited Sri Lanka, and I totally recommend it! Better if you stay in a nearby hotel the night before if you want to be there at early morning (during my stay, I was mainly in Colombo, and arriving by train to Pinnawala took me about 3-4 hours), and watch from your terrace the elephants taking a bath in the river. Don't forget to buy your ticket if you would like to feed them (in the morning or afternoon). Also, you can go to the elephant dung products shops and buy some souvenirs, as well as visiting some other attractions in the village.
Oliver Aydi

11 April 2018

I'm torn between loving or hating this place. It all depends on weather the elephants are really happy here or not. The aim of this place is to nourish and take care of orphaned elephants and treat injured and sick ones back to health. If that is truly what is going on here then thumbs up! If not, and this is just a parade to grab tourists' money then shame! But from what it shows the elephants are enjoying their time here!
Kasura 009

09 April 2018

* Nice Place to watch elephants closely.
* You can experience milk feeding to baby elephants & feed a much older one.
* Elephants bathing @ maoya is another rich experience.
* Lots of space, long walking paths & gardens.
* Nice & Clean environment + Friendly staff.
* Will be an unforgettable experience for nature lovers.
* Although some are chained they seems to have much freedom & good life conditions (after all this a orphanage where lost elephants were take care)
Bilal Muhammad Rafiq Shah

07 April 2018

We loved visiting the elephants , it was an experience and memories I will treasure forever . I had mixed feeling about the chains on some of the elephants whilst they were bathing , but you do have to remember these are semi wild and do have to be kept in tow. At least they are not being poached and killed liked in Africa .I did not feel they were mistreated , they seem to really care . I thought the feeding of the smaller ones were expensive and they have the older well trained to receive food. The riding of the elephant was the best part , it was fabulous. It is real must to see and remember it is catch 22 regarding the animals being chained up, because if one of them charged at you , you would ask the question why were they not controlled ? May be a bit extreme , but it could easily happen to anyone.
Buddhika Jayasooriya

25 February 2018

You can have the pleasure of seeing live elephant very much closely. Check the elephant bathing times and feeding times before you arrive so you can get the maximum out of it. Good experience for small children as well. Parking is available in front of the orphanage or side of the road.
Fuzuly Yuzuf

24 February 2018

One of the best place ever visit. Beautiful environment. Nature beauty with elephant bathing. You can see the elephant as mush as closer. Visit once and feel the difference.
Kenneth Connolly

22 February 2018

Best place to see elephants. They are well looked after and cared for. If you are lucky enough to get ticket to milk feed baby elephant it is great experience.
Please do not visit other places to ride and feed elephants, they are cruel and do my treat them we'll.
Prabath KSP

29 January 2018

This is best place to visit ,if you arent experience with Live elephant very closely. you can help join with staff to give food and milk for baby elephants,also you can help for bathing.
Full range of age elephant are there and student can get better knowledge from them.
would recommend for all visitors
Rangika Halwatura

11 January 2018

One of the best place to study Asian Elephants. Actually you can find the full age rang at a single location. There are baby elephants, who born here as well
You can feed them and also you can join with the team there to give them a bath. There are god shops for you to buy items, which are going alone with par with elephants
Mark Curtis

30 October 2017

Very good day out to see Elephants in there natural environment cost about £10 and it’s worth Every Penney make sure you take a hat because it’s inland and very hot,3 hour drive from Colombo but could be longer if the traffic is bad so go early in the morning.you won’t be disappointed make sure you go to the river to watch the Elephants wash and play in the water
R Rajkumar

22 October 2017

This elephant orphanage is popular tourist attraction place having approximately 60 elephants from new born to elderly & include orphaned, abandoned and injured. They are being looked after very well. These are not trained and left freely. Usually around 11AM elephants are taken for a bath in river after that they come back to roaming area where you can see them comfortably later on there will be fruit and milk feeding.
Maruthakumar Thirugnanam

09 September 2017

Well maintained elephant orphanage, more suitably can be called as home or nursery of elephants.

Mammoths are left free and we can go very close to them.

Having specific time based events when elephants marches to near by river to take bath and return. Nice to see so many elephants at the same time, walking in much disciplined way to cross the road etc.
Martin Mcgrath

27 August 2017

If you like to see elephants herded up and down for photo opportunities, animals showing clear signs of stress in chain because they are "angery" and "baby" elephants that are well past bottle feeding but being fed with bottle for the amusement of tourists then this is the place for you. Very little interpretation about why the orphanage is there, or the work it does. Was not sure what to expect but was shocked to see pretty much a circus for the tourists to get a photo. Go to a national park and see these wonderful animals not this place.
Madhuri Patil

27 June 2017

Great experience if you are fond of elephants. You can see baby elephants being fed by huge milk bottles. We were taken to a little terrace where we could feed fruits to an elephant. If there are kids, they would enjoy. Finally the elephant parading towards the river for fun and frolic is not to be missed..
Shiranga Kodhagoda Gamage

26 June 2017

The place is worth visiting there are plenty of things to see and understand about the wild elephants but very disappointed about the staff some are taking money letting visitors to touch and take photos with elephants. You better be avoid doing that. Fee is reasonable and service is in a satisfactory level.
Duminda Koralagamage

10 June 2017

Good place for relaxing and enjoy. There are more than 60 orphaned elephants in here. Professional staff is working. Need to buy tickets for enter. Foreign tickets are much higher than locals. Elephant bathing and and baby elephants milk feeding are awesome two events. Toilets are clean and tidy. Shops and restaurants are nearby.
Aashiq Ahamed

13 May 2017

Worth spending time, specially if you are a tourist or parent lookingn for an outing.
You can watch milk feeding and elephant bath twice a day. There is a resting place inside the sanctuary where you also can feed fruits and if you tired do some swinging. Kids will Enjoy the staff.
Better officials share and talk to people about important information.
Dakshitha Wijeratne

30 April 2017

It's a nice place to visit your holiday with a beautiful view of elephants. In this sanctuary you can see feeding baby elephants, elephant bathing and you can also feed elephants with certain restrictions which is a worthy experience. You can bring food inside but please keep the premises clean. Dispose litter to dedicated bins.
The daily program is printed on the back of the ticket so you can arrange your time accordingly.
Bob Iles

18 April 2017

What a wonderful place, where they take in elephants that need help and look after them. We saw them bottle feed the babies and them lead loads of elephants down to the river to have a good old wollow. There are restaurants and viewing places right by the river in the shade which was perfect for seeing all the fun.
Siddhartha Puligilla

14 April 2017

Great place, main attractions include a visit to the elephant sanctuary and then to a nearby stream where elephants take a bath. This is on your way to Kandy from Colombo with a small detour which adds only 14KM to your trip. There are also a few souvenir stores on your way to the stream where you can buy interesting items like paper made out of Elephant poo.
Zdravko Pjevač

04 April 2017

Very pretty. Go early because first you can interact with elephants (feed them) then later at around 11h (check the time) they move them to a large stream for bathing time. The moving is interesting itself because they stop traffic to cross the street and they go past the shops to the water. There you can again interact with them while their guardians are around but their keepers will DEMAND tips. Lots of them are chained but they seem well fed so I hope they take good care of them.
Sapna Sharma

01 April 2017

There are lot of small groups along the road who entertain you with elephant rides. This Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is one of the best amongst all to spend quality time with groups of elephants. One can see the fun moments during the time when the whole groups of elephant moved to river side.
Abhishek Ghosh

02 March 2017

Nice, large elephant orphanage, where these amazing animals seem to be well-treated. If you go at specific times in the afternoon, you get to see them eat or bathe, so check with the locals or at your hotel.

I saw the elephants bathing; that was an incredibly calming and happy experience.