After spending 2 hours making our way through check in, customs and a short 1 hour flight from Chennai, Char & I found ourselves in Colombo, Sri Lanka. There I had arranged to rent a motorcycle which was to be our mode of travel for the next two weeks. This turned out to be a 250cc street legal dirt bike which when loaded with our gear and the two of us on I could just reach the ground with my toes. I thought this was a bit of overkill, but Suranga, the very helpful man we rented from just said that not all of the roads in Sri Lanka were like the nice paved street outside his shop. As we were to discover, this turned out to be true and there were more than a few times we were glad to have the big beast.We wanted to see elephants while on our trip, so our first stop was the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage. It was a beautiful morning as this view from our hotel room shows, but as soon as we got on the bike it started to rain nonstop for the rest of the day. 
The orphanage has taken in about 80 elephants that have been orphaned or abandoned. It has also become a major tourist attraction where people are allowed to get up close and personal with many of the elephants. The elephants don't seem to mind, and even appear to like the attention, and the Mahouts are always close by. Even the very protective adults guarding this nine day old allowed us to pet them and raised their trunk in greeting. The elephants have a large area to wander and seem to be well taken care of, so our overall impression was if the tourism pays the way for the animals it is worth any trade off for a more wild existence.
There were also some sad scenes like this huge bull elephant that was chained tight inside a covered shelter with scars from his leg chains. However, from what we saw of their treatment, this must have been a necessary restraint. 
There was also the elephant on the right in this picture, leaning on the other who had lost a foot from a trap or land mine. It was amazing to watch her as she shifted her massive weight to her hind legs as she limped forward on her one front leg which was permanently bowed from the weight it had to support.
After feeding time the elephants were walked down to the river where they were free to wander, bathing themselves and rolling in the dirt. We had a good laugh watching them slide down from the upper banks on their bellies.
The orphanage has taken in about 80 elephants that have been orphaned or abandoned. It has also become a major tourist attraction where people are allowed to get up close and personal with many of the elephants. The elephants don't seem to mind, and even appear to like the attention, and the Mahouts are always close by. Even the very protective adults guarding this nine day old allowed us to pet them and raised their trunk in greeting. The elephants have a large area to wander and seem to be well taken care of, so our overall impression was if the tourism pays the way for the animals it is worth any trade off for a more wild existence.
There were also some sad scenes like this huge bull elephant that was chained tight inside a covered shelter with scars from his leg chains. However, from what we saw of their treatment, this must have been a necessary restraint. There was also the elephant on the right in this picture, leaning on the other who had lost a foot from a trap or land mine. It was amazing to watch her as she shifted her massive weight to her hind legs as she limped forward on her one front leg which was permanently bowed from the weight it had to support.
After feeding time the elephants were walked down to the river where they were free to wander, bathing themselves and rolling in the dirt. We had a good laugh watching them slide down from the upper banks on their bellies.
Overall the Orphange was a great place to see many elephants, and they seem to be doing a needed service to abandoned animals.That evening, still in the pouring rain, we made our way to our guesthouse in Kandy where we spent several days, and an attempt to dry out some of our clothes, which is not an easy thing to do in 100% humidity.
