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Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

3,733 Reviews

#1 of 6 things to do in Pinnawala

Features Animals

Nature & Parks, Nature & Wildlife Areas

B199, Pinnawala 71100, Sri Lanka

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3 Day Tour to Kandy Nuwara Eliya & Sigiriya from Colombo

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Day trip Kandy & pinnawatal

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Traveler Overview

3.5 3,733 reviews

Excellent29%
Very good32%
Average17%
Poor8%
Terrible14%

Travelers talk about

“the river”(1,252 reviews)

“baby elephants”(398 reviews)

“elephant orphanage”(303 reviews)

About

Suggested duration: 1-2 hours

Local Weather

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Feb

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Contact

B199, Pinnawala 71100, Sri Lanka

Website

+94 35 2 265284

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Ways to Experience Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

3 Day Tour to Kandy Nuwara Eliya & Sigiriya...

3 Reviews

from $98.00

More Info

Day trip Kandy & pinnawatal

5 Reviews

from $24.00

More Info

Private Kandy Day Tour with Pinnawala From...

from $52.00

More Info

2 Day Tour to Kandy & Sigiriya from Colombo

from $84.00

More Info

1 - 10 of 2,800 reviews

Jingpei

Singapore, Singapore

7611

Reviewed today via mobile

good chance to see elephants up close

a really good gesture to set up an orphanage to rescue the orphan elephants. chance to see the elephants up close, u can get to feed the elephants too.

Date of experience: December 2018

Thank Jingpei

cat_carvalheiras

Reviewed yesterday

Scam to make money from tourists and keep grown elephants captive

Hello, I was in Pinnawala last October (2018) and it was a total scam as expected. The tourists arrive in a campus that is completely human-created as opposed to what the pictures seem to show, surrounded by elephant cages and yards where the elephants are...More

Date of experience: October 2018

1 Thank cat_carvalheiras

ruddellkusabs

Hamilton, New Zealand

745

Reviewed yesterday

2 Weeks Volunteering

Spent 2 weeks volunteering here as a family so gained some insight into the orphanage. The orphanage would love to see all elephants in the wild, unfortunately this is impossible with pressures on land use by a growing population. They cant introduce elephants to an...More

Date of experience: December 2018

2 Thank ruddellkusabs

dr kapil m

Bilaspur, India

14139

Reviewed 4 days ago

GOOD EXPERIENCE

On the way from kandy to colombo this is an orphanage for elephants .One can see their bathing,feeding and other activities.the restaurent is a good spot to have lunch and see elephants from there bathing in river.

Date of experience: December 2018

Thank dr kapil m

Ankur C

Greater Noida, India

8432

Reviewed 1 week ago

Amazing place for kids and adults too

We visited Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in January 2019 and were mesmerized by the view. Scores of elephants roaming around you. You can feed the elphants, see them bathing in the river and learn a lot about them. A must visit place if you are in...More

Date of experience: January 2019

Thank Ankur C

Happycamper448

3014

Reviewed 1 week ago via mobile

Leaves a bad taste in the mouth

We visited the Orphanage today hoping for lots to see, learn and feed the elephants.......you can do this visit in about 15-20mins. All the while seeing elephants chained up, looking stressed and swaying back and forth. It was actually distressing seeing them like that. We...More

Date of experience: January 2019

1 Thank Happycamper448

amberd2308

Melbourne, Australia

5023

Reviewed 1 week ago via mobile

Worth visiting

The actual sanctuary area is a bit of a let down, not much to see, we were out within 15 mins. The walk down to the river was easy, the road is lined with shops, including elephant poo paper shops (the first one you encounter...More

Date of experience: January 2019

Thank amberd2308

Deanoshell

Reviewed 1 week ago via mobile

Eranda Tours

We had a lovely experience with spending time and learning about the elephants thanks to Eranda. He picked us up from our hotel RIU in a very comfortable car with air con and we were drove safely to all points of interest. Eranda speaks very...More

Date of experience: January 2019

Thank Deanoshell

iswarya2014

Coimbatore, India

13626

Reviewed 1 week ago via mobile

Elephants galore

The elephant orphanage is a place which kids would encounter lots of elephants. Since there were no baby elephants we could not see any milk feeding. There were numerous elephants which were being taken for bathing. We could see them frolick on the river bank....More

Date of experience: December 2018

Thank iswarya2014

ashish1

Bengaluru, India

9043

Reviewed 1 week ago

See elephants up and close

The orphanage has three broad time slots: milk feeding to calves, fruit feeding to elephants, elephant bathing, so you should try to plan your arrival at beginning of one of these (picture has details, zoom in). You will be shuffling between hold area for feeding...More

Date of experience: December 2018

Thank ashish1

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Travel Forum Posts

Kanesh

London

Sri Lanka Tour (2 Replies)

My wife, children (aged 13 and 9) and I are planning to come to Sri Lanka this August. We are interested in 3 to 5 day tour around the capital and other parts of Sri Lanka (e.g. Sigiriya Rock, Dhambulla, Cave Temple, Kandy Temple, Kandy Dance, Botanic Garden, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Tea Factory and Nuwara Eliya). We will also be interested in hotel accommodation and airport transports. Could you please give us some suggestions.

March 11, 2010|

Response fromSusieStAustell|

Hello Kanesh There are many ways you can do this, depending on your budget and preferences. One way is to book it through a tour company such as Red Dot Tours who could also arrange your transfers and tour with one of their drivers. Another way is to use one of Sri Lanka's excellent independent driver/guides who could do exactly the same for you, but considerably cheaper. All of the DE's on this forum have recommended drivers and can give you the details if you send them a request for...More

Beachmummy

Sarasota, Florida

Entrance Fees, use of US cash, student discounts, (6 Replies)

We have heard we can buy a Government ticket to get into the tourist attractions. If so where do we buy this or are we better off buying the entrance tickets to each site. We should be visiting 3 World Heritage Sites. We will be hopefully traveling to thefollowing; - Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage Dambulla Sigiriya Polonnaruwa & Yala National Park Also we love to take photographs, are we allowed to freely take photographs or do we have to have a permit for this too? We are a family...More

July 02, 2013|

Response fromErikandSandya|

Hi there, Okay will try... 1] There is no Triangle combiticket anymore, so indeed you buy per site. 2] Some sites charge a photo surcharge too, just hide your cameras at entrance as all tourists find it ridiculous seeing the already high entrance prices. 3] No student discounts, sorry. 4] Cash only, and LKR please. If they accept USD the rate used is very lousy. General advice is even to restrict credit card strongly and never loose sight of it in hotels and shops, as cloning is...More

MaggieNg

Macau, China

is Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage worth a visit? (1 Replies)

The entrance fee is not cheap. Is it worth to visit? Do we need to pay if we only watch elephants take shower in the river?

November 10, 2016|

Response fromhemanthau|

Yes.You can see only they crossing road free of charge.Mixed reviews on TA about Pinnawala. Regards

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