Pinnawala (Jan 20)

On Thursday we headed to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, a state run facility that is about an hour or so out of Kandy. Before we got into the orphanage, we went to a spice garden across the street. It was a free tour, and they gave free massages with their homemade balms and oils. But the hard sell was in their shop and we both ended up buying stuff. This extra haggling time made us miss the baby elephants being bottle fed.

There's really not a whole lot to say about the orphanage. Just being there was awe-inspiring, walking around with these giants. It's kind of sad cause most of the elephants have chains on to prevent a full on stampede, and are hit with branches to get them to follow directions. And I believe most of these elephants will go onto being working elephants; I mean going into a lifetime of work is a depressing thought for me, I can't imagine what the elephants think of the situation.

The babies (babies of older orphans) stick very close to mom and are usually surrounded by other females as well.

Twice a day the elephants are taken to the river nearby and have a bath. It's funny to see the babies step too far and just have a trunk poking out of the water.

This guy on the left is missing a foot.

The "collateral damage" from a landmine is not always human.

Sri Lanka