Sri Lanka

Cover Photo

Many countries greet us with music and dance. It’s a pleasant way to get off the ship as you are heading to your bus tour. I quickly snapped a couple of photos while hurrying to get on the tour bus.

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

After a very long 3-hour drive, we arrived in Pinnawala Village. We were greeted with an elephant walking up the street. This orphanage was started in 1975 by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife Conservation to care for orphaned elephants. The site has moved over the years until finding a home in Pinnawala Village. In August of 2021, an elephant named Surangi gave birth to twin males.

Over the years, these elephants have become dependent on the care and feeding they receive making it impossible for them to return to the wild. Any new elephant that is orphaned is taken to a different habitat to be rehabilitated and returned back to the wild.

Our guide talked freely about the criticism of the facility. He was also open about the mistakes made and how the country is trying to correct them. Probably the most fascinating part of his talk was about the sex habits of the male elephants. Their testosterone levels increase by approximately 60% causing the male bull to go mad in his search for a female that he feels is attractive. He will pass those females that he does not fancy. This is a dangerous time for his mahouts (handlers). The bull gets so worked up that he can crush his mahout without realizing it.

Sri Lanka has approximately 22 million people in the small country which they share with 6000 elephants. At one point the elephant population was down to 1500 from 30,000. The problem is resources. There are not enough natural resources to support both therefore, the elephant population growth is much slower than desired.

Note: Asian elephants generally do not have tusks. Only some of the males have tusks. None of the elephants we saw that day had tusks.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka once known as Ceylon received its independence from Britain in 1948. It remained a dominion of Great Britain until 1972. It is a very poor country and according to our guide has major corruption issues.

We were only in Sri Lanka for one day. Most of it was spent on a bus getting to and from the Elephant Orphanage. However, here are a few random photos from that day.

Port of Colombo

What do you think when you think of cruise ship ports? Probably large buildings with modern facilities. Well, you would be correct if you are docking in most large cities. However, lots of small cities or countries only have industrial ports. Here is the view from our balcony in Colombo.