While I was in Sri Lanka I got a chance to visit the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. It is an orphanage, nursery and captive breeding ground for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village, 13 km northwest of Kegalle town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1975 by the Sri Lanka wildlife department in a 25 acre coconut property near the Maha Oya river. The orphanage was originally founded in order to afford care and protection to the many orphaned Elephants found in the jungle. There are 88 elephants (37 Males & 51 Females from 3 generations) and the orphanage has the largest herd of captive elephants in the world.

In 1978 the orphanage was taken over by the National Zoological Gardens from the Department of Wildlife and a captive breeding program was launched in 1982. Since this time many elephants have been born. The aim of the orphanage is to simulate the natural world. However, there are some exceptions: the elephants are taken to the river twice daily for a bath, and all the babies under three years of age are still bottle fed by the mahouts and volunteers. Each animal is also given around 76kg of green matter a day and around 2kg from a food bag containing rice bran and maize. They get access to water twice a day, from the river.

The orphanage is very popular and visited daily by many Sri Lankan and foreign tourists. The main attraction is clearly to observe the bathing elephants from the tall river bank as it allows visitors to observe the herd interacting socially, bathing and playing.

It was exciting to see so many elephants in one area Frankly speaking I have never seen so many of these giant, peaceful, silent souls together.

I purchased tickets to feed the elephants & also to bottle fed the young ones. It was very satisfying experience.

I noticed a big group of Europeans in the orphanage. They were observing very carefully the various activities of the orphanage.

In this serene natural surrounding I considered it worthwhile to discuss Environmental issues with them & also to introduce & promote Tunza Eco-Generation among them.

I am basically an Indian, residing in the UAE, visiting Sri Lanka & discussing with Europeans about a networking platform based in Korea. This is the power of Environment. It brings together different & varied nationalities under one common platform with a single objective. Save Environment.

I initiated a dialogue with them & basically I gave them 3 messages:

1.     Do not litter. Keep the orphanage & generally all surroundings neat & clean. Dispose wisely. Segregate the waste.

2.     Do not use plastic as it is very harmful to animals in such natural surroundings. They may choke to death after swallowing plastic with food.

3.     Adopt vegetarian food. Such a giant creature like Elephant is a vegetarian. It implies that vegetarian food is healthy & must be encouraged. Rhino, Hippo, Giraffe, Horse, Zebra, Cow, buffalo all big animals are vegetarian.

I also gave them a simple message LOVE ANIMALS.

In the end I distributed Tunza Eco-Generation promotion goods & distributed my business cards. I reminded them to look at the Tunza Eco-Generation web site & see the wonderful work carried on by the young generation towards the environment conservation & implement these simple but effective things in their daily lives.

On the whole it was another satisfying experience discussing with them & doing my bit for my mother nature in Sri Lanka.

Thanks for reading.