Earlier this week I was in Sri Lanka with my family. We went on a day trip to Pinnawala en route to Kandy, Sri Lanka.
The stop in Pinnawala was to see the famous Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage which houses one of the largest herds of captive elephants in the world. Two tourist attractions in the place, one is the feeding of Baby Elephants from a feeding bottle and the herd of elephants getting down to the nearby Oya river for a bath.
A baby elephant drinking milk from a bottle
Elephant herds taking bath at Oya river, Pinnawala, Sri Lanka (ஓயா ஆற்றில் குளிக்கும் யானைக்கூட்டங்கள், பின்னவல, இலங்கை)
Elephants getting down to the Oya River, Pinnawala, Sri Lanka
Tourists from around the world throng the place for getting a vantage spot to see the elephants bathing. The Elephant orphanage reminded me of the Sri Guruvayoorappan Temple (Devasthaswom) managed Elephant home in Kerala. The road from the Orphanage to the river opposite is lined with shops selling all handicraft items targeted at western tourists, we stayed clear of the shops.
Shops selling items for the tourists’ Elephants, Pinnawala, Sri Lanka
Before the Elephant Orphanage visit, our Hotel Taxi driver stopped in a private Elephant farm. Immediately my son ran and got on top of an Elephant for a ride and I had to shell out SLR 2000 or so per person, which was a complete tourist rip-off.
Post office in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka – Pinnawala ETH Sewana – பின்னவல தபால் நிலையம், இலங்கை
Spice Garden (மசாலா தோட்டம், பின்னவல, இலங்கை)
The next stop after the Elephant Orphanage was a tourist trap, it was a visit to Spice Garden, Coming from Tamil Nadu (neighbouring Kerala which is the historic spice destination) I should have avoided the stop. The Spice Garden was a well maintained private farm growing all kinds of herbs, spices & condiments. An in-house guide did a 20-minute tour (which was free) of the place, showing and explaining about each herb & spices they grow.
Cloves and Pepper plants (கிராம்பு, மிளகு செடிகள்)
Vanilla Plant (வெண்ணிலா செடி)
The tour was informative and worth the stop. What followed at the end was the tourist trap (somewhere you got to pay for it, right). The guide (salesman) did a small demo of all their herbal cures for illness from Hair problems to wait-loss. I was about to dash out of the place when my wife took an order form and started selecting the medicines. Knowing better than to convince my wife against not buying anything I limited her purchase to a few bottles of medicines which I am sure we will not use after returning home.