Kottamba Kanda

Day trips

Where to see elephants, responsibly

The best place to see elephants in Sri Lanka from the south coast is Udawalawe National Park, about an hour and a half's drive from Kottamba Kanda, where wild herds graze the grasslands around a reservoir all year round. Next to the park, the Elephant Transit Home raises orphaned calves for return to the wild, and you can watch a feeding from a viewing platform without anyone riding, bathing or chaining anything.

Plenty of places in Sri Lanka will put you next to an elephant, and far fewer deserve the visit. This page maps the difference: where seeing elephants supports them, and where it does not.

Elephants, done right: the essentials
From the villaAbout 1 hour 30 minutes by car to Udawalawe; the Transit Home is minutes from the park gate
Best seasonYear-round. Udawalawe is the most reliable elephant park on the island; herds do not depend on the season
The dayMorning or afternoon jeep drive in the park, timed around a feeding at the Transit Home
Arranged by the villaCar, jeep, tickets and timings; the villa plans the day around the calves' feeding schedule

Udawalawe: wild herds, honest odds

Udawalawe is the surest place in Sri Lanka to see wild elephants, and one of the surest in Asia. The park is open grassland and scrub around a large reservoir, which means you actually see the animals rather than glimpse them through jungle: family herds with calves at foot, bulls in the open, sometimes dozens of animals in a single sweep of the plain. A half-day jeep drive with a good tracker is enough; the elephants are not a lottery here, they are the landscape.

The Elephant Transit Home

On the edge of the park, the Department of Wildlife Conservation runs the Elephant Transit Home, which raises orphaned calves with one purpose: release back into the wild. Visitors watch feedings from a raised platform at a distance; nobody touches, rides or poses with the animals, and that is exactly the point. The calves stay wild, and more than a hundred have already gone back to the park's herds. Feedings run at set times through the day, and the villa times the whole trip around one.

A word about Pinnawala, and the rides

The famous elephant orphanage at Pinnawala is four hours from the coast, and we do not send guests there. It keeps its elephants in permanent captivity, and it has drawn sustained criticism from animal-welfare organisations for chaining and for breeding animals with nowhere wild to go. The same goes, more strongly, for anywhere offering elephant rides or bathing sessions: the training that makes those possible is something you would not want to have funded.

The good news is that the better option is also the closer one. Udawalawe and the Transit Home are half the distance from the villa, wilder, and a better day out by every measure that matters.

Common questions

Where is the best place to see elephants in Sri Lanka?

From the south coast, Udawalawe National Park: wild herds visible year-round on open grassland, about 90 minutes from Hiriketiya. Minneriya's famous seasonal Gathering is in the island's north-centre, several hours away; for a day trip from the coast, Udawalawe is the clear answer.

How far is Udawalawe from Hiriketiya?

About 1 hour 30 minutes by car, heading inland from the coast. The Elephant Transit Home sits just outside the park entrance, so the park drive and a feeding combine naturally into one day, back at the villa by late afternoon.

Is the Elephant Transit Home ethical?

It is widely regarded as the ethical model: orphaned calves are raised for release into the wild, contact with humans is kept to a minimum, and visitors watch feedings from a platform at a distance. There is no touching, riding or bathing, because the goal is wild animals, not tame ones.

Why not visit Pinnawala elephant orphanage?

Pinnawala keeps its elephants in permanent captivity and has been criticised for years by welfare organisations over chaining and breeding practices. It is also four hours from the south coast. Udawalawe offers wild herds and a genuine rehabilitation centre at half the distance.

Should you ride or bathe elephants in Sri Lanka?

No. Elephants that accept riders or bath-time crowds are trained into that tolerance in ways welfare groups consistently condemn. Watching wild elephants from a jeep at Udawalawe is safer, better for the animals, and a far better spectacle.

Keep reading

A Yala safari, leopards included Dawn start from the villa, a private jeep through the park, back for dinner by the chef.

Whales off Mirissa Blue whales forty minutes from the villa, in season from November to April.

When to come, and getting here The south coast's seasons month by month, and the drive down from Colombo.

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