Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Due to serious and well documented concerns over animal welfare, Experience Travel no longer offer visits to Sri Lanka's Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage.

Sri Lanka is blessed with vast jungles and National Parks where these majestic creatures roam freely. It is our firm belief that this is where the elephants of Sri Lanka are best seen and protected. 

If you wish to include a visit to Pinnawela in one of your tours you can ask your driver to include a stop there whilst in the Kandy region, but we would prefer to have a chance to share some of the alternatives with you to assist you in making an informed decision.

Experience Travel have a strong commitment to responsible and sustainable tourism and we felt that promoting Pinnawela was at odds with these beliefs.

Please contact us to discuss this in more detail and learn about the many alternative places in Sri Lanka to see these incredible animals where they roam wild and free. One of our blog posts describes our concerns about Pinnawela in more detail. 

There are numerous places all over the island where half day, full day and overnight camping safaris are easily organised. Consider Uda Walawe National Park in the south, or Minneriya National Park in the Cultural Triangle region. There are also elephant transit camps attached to some parks which, whilst smaller than Pinnawela, play the vital rols or rescuing elephants before re-introducing them to the wild.