Pinnawela is a beautiful pictorial village on a bank of a river near Kegalle between Colombo and Kandy. Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage is the only one in the world that cares for the largest elephant herd in captivity. It shelters many baby elephants, blind elephants, and crippled ones.

The orphanage was founded in 1972 at the Wilpattu National Park and it was relocated in 1976 into a 10-hectare coconut plantation on the bank of the Maha Oya River at Pinnawela.

Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage recorded the birth of the 55^th Baby Elephant in 2011 in its 40 years of existence. The breeding program in the orphanage started in 1982 with “Vijaya” the male elephant and “Kumari” the female elephant producing three calves at intervals of 4-5 years.

The Lord visits the river twice a day and it is an amazing sight of the herd frolicking in the river deemed a ‘must see’ for visitors.