Hi Yasmin, I am a wildlife photographer, conservationist and travel advisor from Sri Lanka. With regards to elephants, there is alot of controversy how elephants are treated in captivity. We try to discourage tourist elephant rides which are quite cruel to the animal, but the Pinnawala Orphanage is quite good in that the animals are relatively free ranging. But for a true experience I would definitely advise you to see "real wild elephants". There is no substitute for that. Seeing magnificent animals in their natural habitat. The best place to see them is in Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks. Every year during the dry months of July-September elephants gather in their hundreds in these two parks, and is one of the most unique wildlife spectacles in asia. You can see over 300 elephants during the peak season. U will be surrounded by herds of these giants, and u can see first hand their unique social behavior. Hope this information is useful. You can get more information about the country in detail from our company website www.classicsrilanka.com which we are still developing and hope to launch in August. In the meantime you can see some of my work on www.wildlifediaries.blogspot.com and www.flickr.com/photos/rajivw

Pinnawala is the place you are looking for! It's on the way to Kandy. I highly recommend you to visit the elephants orphanage in Pinnawala, then Kandy, and after that Sigiriya. That's the famous tourists route. If you still have time then visit the Nilaweli beach and the surrounding places and come back to colombo for your final day , do some shopping and site seeing.( of course some tourists go further south of the island to some reason, I really don't know why;( because I hv never ever visit the southern part of this island eventhough I m a SL. Lol)

Pinnawala elephant orphanage is good. The treatment of animals are as best as it gets.

If you like to see elephants go to pinnawala elephant orphanage or temple

i checked in the "google" and found that this temple is "Mulkirigala Rock Temple"(around 2200 years old) This is what i found in the "google" king Saddhatissa(137 B.C - 119 B.C) built this temple. King Saddhatissa was hunting in this area and found this rock and called the place Mu Kivu Gala (Gala=Rock, sorry i don't know whats are Mu & Kivu)and built this temple. But later it became Mulkirigala (Mu + l + kiri + gala). when i did read about King Saddhatissa I found it was so interesting story. (how his mother (Viharamahadevi) was braved and voluntary sacrificed herself to the sea to save the country from "Tsunami" when she was a princess, and about Saddhatissa's brother "Dutugamunu". and then how "Dutugamunu"'s son felt love with a low caste girl and therefore he lost his Crown. because of this reason "Saddhatissa"(brother of Dutugamunu) became the next King after "Dutugamunu". currently my hobby is watching Korean historical dramas and then read Korean history in the google and then visit those places. Same way when i see your videos i check those details in the google. Sri lanka too had very great history same like Korean history.

, Poor elephants, tormented souls. Human misery, lazy, cruel and primitive. Shame on politicians responsible for animal welfare. These animals are so violently abused for the sole purpose of "religious" and "distract" tourists and ignorant people who are simply indifferent to the torture of these poor tormented souls. Shame on those who might stop, but won't. , they are cruel and ignorant. Their suffering for the income of "elephant owners" is the most important for the authorities. Even if their life is pure hell, endless cruelty. It is shameful and inhuman, inconceivable and unforgivable. Elephants are chained and live in isolation, beaten, tormented, starved, terribly tormented ... to listen. Many are captured from the wild, broken by families and then beaten and tortured until they are broken to make them submissive, starting a life full of torment. Then they are used in tourist walks and in tourist temples, religious ceremonies, tourist entertainments ... They deserve to be happy and not to be chained, humiliated, tormented ... for gain, absurd traditions. Are these people not able to feel kindness, empathy, love ... towards animals, towards the poor animals they exploit or the misery of the lazy man feels only money, pride, fame and cruelty towards the poor tormented souls !!! The problem is that money and corruption outweigh empathy and kindness. This makes it so difficult to fight these aggressors, these beasts with human faces, these human devils.

I like elephants their are my favourite animal in the whole world bye have a nice day

Hello yaiyasmin Please visit India once. I watched all ur videos. Ur Pakistan trip videos and many much more. Ma'am I am big fan of yours.

poor elephant...there is nothing beautiful there for poor elephants! Poor elephants are so tormented, chained, beaten, starved, tortured with those iron hooks stuck in their heads, in their bodies ..always and always to entertain dehumanized tourists, cruel and indifferent to the suffering of poor tormented souls .And people stupid people are amused and pay for their torment ....

Please do not ever ride elephants. Happy to hear you were concerned about elephants treatment. Sri Lanka, India, Thailand keep elephants in chains all their lives. Its not humane to treat these animals like that :-(

Elephants are considered as sacred creatures in Sri Lanka. Once kept in the stables of kings, it's a creature celebrated across the country. Sri Lanka is home to the largest gathering of wild Asian elephants anywhere in the world. These wild elephants can be found in national parks like Yala, Wilpatthu, Udawalawe, Minneriya, Wasgamuwa, etc..