Pinnawala Sri Lanka - Elephant Orphanage And Their Poop To Paper Affair

Tea Estates En route Colombo-Nuwar Eliya

An unfathomable saga of my Sri Lanka vacation gala is still fresh in my mind and I can throb even  four years after it. Probably the encounter with the loving pachyderms, icon of Sri Lankan tourism, the elephant family was quite an experience. Or playing with the pythons made it different, or greens and sun forming myriad colours in the wide ocean. Or that, this was holiday where we did not make serious agenda. Holidays should be flexible. This one was. Especially after an affair with these elephants and knowing even that their dung was used to make paper, we got hooked onto the place.

Ocean View from balcony of Hotel Mount Lavinia

Here is the link to the old brief travelogue I had written. - A Week At Ravan's Place. Exploring Sri Lanka.

Pinnawala -Elephant Orphanage



A Place that was originally was found in 1975 for holding best disposition of ex-situ animal care. In 25 acre coconut plantation jungle, adjacent to "Maha Oya " river, elephants are bred and well taken care of. Just as name holds, the set up was founded to care for abandoned elephants. Those that strayed away, or fell in mining pits or who ended up spoiling farmers crops . A splendid encounter it is in such close quarters with these jumbos and little jumbos.

Elephant was a friend always. For me from Udupi the temple town. There was always this mammoth friend with it's fascinating trunk  in the Sri Krishna Temple premises whom I talked to as child. This brief interaction in SriLanka was a delight. Kissing another being felt like being human.

Bottle milk feeding activity to keep tourists engaged! Pinnawala mahouts feed the baby elephants less than 3 yr of age with bottle milk. Also encourage the friendly visitors too to indulge in feeding activity. As for my experience this little jumbo gulped up the bottle before we could have our camera shutter buzz. Timing maintained are for thirty minutes twice a day. 9.15A.M and 1.30 noon.

Baby elephants are left in their play pen for few hours, especially as exhibit for visitors too! With the their favorite veggies hanging on the rails the babies stay there for few hours of the morning after their bath. The lactating mothers are generally very very compassionate toward their calves and nurture them lovingly in their presence.

While most elephants march in herds to the river for their daily bathing ritual, a few are isolated. Either the wounded ones or the aggressive ones and trained with hose of water to bathe themselves. Spectators are welcomed too to view and accompany them. A few naughty ones would splash some water on you too.

Every morning bathing sessions are regimen essential. So, the jumbos stay hale and hearty. They are guided by security personnel and the mahouts and march towards river at 10 AM only to return by 12 noon. A pleasurable scene, the brown pachyderm march to the river. Alongside the street are laid those small vendors who sell souvenirs. All the types that we can expect. Clothes, caps, mugs with the jumbo picture on it.

Poop to paper -

Have you ever had any idea seeing the elephant's rear end, that it's dung could be a raw material while paper the finished product?

I was drowned in poop heap thoughts.



While millions of trees are chopped down in the world, few environmental enthusiasts have found eco-friendly solutions. The elephant dung to make paper indeed! "Fibre" is the keyword, as their diet and dung both are rich in it.

• Collecting the dung - is collected from various elephant stables. 


• The cleaning of the dung - Dung is washed thoroughly with water in large tanks. At the end, all what is left is the fibre. 


• Cooking the poo - To get the fibre ready for the next stage of pulping, it is cooked in water for over 4-5 hours with salt and then washed with hydrogen peroxide to complete the first stage of making the paper bacteria free.


• Sorting - The water is drained out and the dung is left to dry out in the sun. Once its dry, it is sorted and any non-usable fibre is removed.


• Pulping- After the fibre has been softened and sorted, it goes into the Hollander Beater, to be beaten to pulp. This process takes about 4 hours. The fibre goes through the process of being beaten into very fine pulp and also being washed again.


• Lifting Up - The pulp is then taken to cement/ wooden vats filled with water. Depending on the weight of the paper to be made, the required amount of pulp is mixed with the water. A flat sieve-like mould is used to lift a layer of pulp out of water. A sheet of paper is made.


• Moulding -The sheet is then placed on a muslin cloth by applying gentle pressure onto the mould. This process continues till there is a heap of about 100 sheets.


• Drying - The heap of interleaved sheets is then placed in a hydraulic press and compressed to drain out as much water as possible. The paper is then dried on lines, in a shady area. Direct sunlight is not good for drying the sheets unless they’re white as the colour fades under the sun.


• 
  Rolling -Paper sheets are then rolled in d to make them smoother and writable. 
  
  
  
  The sheets are then cut to the specified size, packed and sent to their required destinations.
  
  

Products range includes books, flip-flops, hand bags, picture albums, tags, gift bags, photo frames, and whole lot of funky stuff. 

You have a big range of products available on various sellers, most popular being -One of the seller on Amazon

Few called me daring, then a few called the python daring!!

At the exterior gate of the Orphanage we encountered these slithering friends. First time ever, I held this spineless yet creepy python in my hands. Bit squeamish, but overtaken by confidence of excitement.





Few Key Notes: -

1. Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is open to public on all days between 8Am to 6 PM


2. A huge place to explore, so remember to tie your shoes tight.


3. About 2 hours drive from Colombo city.  


4. Other places of interest around colombo are -Nuwar Eliya, Kandy ,The Seetha Temple, The Ramboda, Few national parks, tea estates and much more.


5. A suggested place to stay  would be Hotel Mount Lavinia in Colombo. See their website for information - http://www.mountlaviniahotel.com/


6. The Auto Rickshaws there are called "tuk tuk" and are a pleasurable rides like the ones in India!

A Week At Ravan's Place. Exploring Sri Lanka.

Hotel Mount Lavinia - Colombo

The flight and the arrival

With Qatar Airways flight swooping down the Sri Lanka land, seated with arms and legs crossed,  in the business class seat,  my nose was stuck to the window, that I wish I could open. Slide Show of loads of pictures in my mind about the Lanka and Lankans flashed randomly. With all enthusiasm if I could trace out one relative of Lord Ravana anywhere so I could take a autograph , and a photograph to post on Face Book. So off we go to Colombo. 

The land of elephants; hills; tea estates; endless ocean the reminiscent of " Salma Agha's Nikaah" (If someone heard the song Faza bhi hai jawan jawan); sea food cuisine; and sweetest people I have ever met on earth.

You do not need prior visa to fly there. Visa upon arrival was what perhaps even Seetha Matha was offered then. Now that the visa matter cropped up, please do not question me how Lord Hanumaan flew across the ocean with no coastal guards noticing. Whatever, let me tell you, molting off my Bhramin avtaar I relished some fish cuisine on board the business class can offer you. If you allowed my better half to poke fun he cant stop repeating how I asked for second helping of Irish Coffee just before landing at Colombo that turned me into a court jester of the day on board. 

As we sped past the longish walkway towards exit of Colombo airport I had begun to notice statues of Lord. Buddha all around. The exteriors seemed nothing different than any Indian airport except for a strange language with beautiful melody. Nicely laid trees alongside roads, as we drove away one could bet it was just a replica of the Bangalore Tata Institue roads. I do bet. The constant aroma, err this time it wasn't aroma but faint anesthetic smell of fish was all in the air. I had free knowledge donated by my better half that Sri Lankan ladies were beautiful. As for me, I was not interested in how the men looked but had begun to feel every other face was a "Chaminda Vaas" or a "Jayawardhane or a Tilakaratne. Every half a kilometer distance finds a Buddha statue with promptly lit candle. The smaller roads did have shops, including those of "King Coconuts". The bigger version of Indian ones. The sizes of coconuts to humans sure was bigger (pinching my ears) than in India.

Much Wanted view of the Ocean from Hotel Mount Lavinia

Secret Tunnel in the Hotel - A Historical Spot

Colombo

Crows seated on that open patio  of  room in the beautiful Hotel Mount Lavinia greeted us. The hotel is located in the beautiful city of Colombo. The room provided vantage view of the roaring ocean with waves hitting the building. If you slipped off the balcony you dive into the water straight. 

Oldest Hotel of the British times, popular for that secret tunnel through ocean waters where Lavinia the pretty Lankan maiden sneaked in to meet her lover the British colonel.  Romantic ambiance was all around, plus the private beach was a luxury when you are with family. Among those crawling creatures in sand, almost first time in life I spent hours on the shore rolling in the water. Had turned a kid with my daughter. Just after dusk an giant turtle had greeted us on the shore. After few flashy lights of many of our cameras it fled back into the water. 

Adventures with pythons and elephants were major enthusiasm apart from visiting different spots on the sea shore riding the "TUK TUK"- the auto-rickshaws that almost resembled our India autos but for the colour caught our fascination.

Colombo - A unique place to adore here was the "Elephant- POO "product shops that displayed and sold out paper, books and related products that were made out of paper from elephant dung. 

Government sure takes care of the thousands of elephants in "orphanages", and also makes tourist spots commercial. The elephants can splash water on you, or gulp down milk from feeding bottles that you can feed them with. All you need to throw is some crispy colourful currency from your wallet. Wait, the elephant orphanages have a clean biased entry fee - lowest to highest ranging in order Lankans, Indians, Arabs, to other whites. The poor beasts will carry you, take you long rides, do up all the shows for few bucks it's owner makes. 



At times I was reminded of that relative living in remote village in India who asked the grand child "OK- show me where is your nose, ears, eyes, sing a song now, show me how you dance" in front of any new visitor they have. The baby elephants face similar scene though.


Most nights I spent lying in the balcony feasting on the roaring ocean waves hitting the building, feeling the melancholy the waves made. I was missing my friend, that crow in the night. But had discovered a new friend for life. Am I the only species of this type or anybody has ever felt like you have met someone whom you have known all your earlier lives too ("janamonka rishtha!") ? Chatting with this friend while on Lanka land formed a new me. The jolt to newer emotions, newer life in air, a better you in yourself and an eternal keeper of your heart.



Nuwar-Elia the hill station

A long drive of about 3 hours from city of Colombo will take you to Nuwar-Elia the heaven of Sri Lanka probably. Not just the drive, but the amount of adventures you come across en-route is a brilliant experience. 



Just that dream holiday where you check in into an heritage kind of hotel. The unique ambiance with the antique furniture, long banquet hall, rich food, the view of the serene lake and it's an unending list. Having landed there in the beautiful winter, we at once grabbed the opportunity of cycling down the sloping path from the hotel to the lake. An encounter with vivid chirping friends lift up your spirits that are almost numb due to cold wind.

Having wound up with the hill station, the only regret as we headed back to Colombo was the Sita temple. Unfortunately missed visiting the location  where Sita Devi was held captive by Ravan. There my aspirations saw my expectations of fetching a autograph with Ravan's relative  washed away.  Somethings were made to be missed but a few other again cheered us up. 



Some wine to ignore our whine.



Accidentally entering a stranger's wedding hall, ending up having wine and dancing to a Lankan number that sounded like some "bhangda". Regret note no 2 was not having taken a permission from bright couple to post their picture on my blog and circulate all round. No offense. They had looked gorgeous.


Return to the giant sand pit called Doha



Next morning even as we checked out of Hotel Lavinia, neither did the crow return to bid a adieu to us, nor did Ayesha. Yes, Ayesha the beautiful room service lady in her blue sari that was her uniform who had turned friendly with my daughter was off duty. My daughter left back a gift box containing blue tinkling bangles, signing her email hoping to receive an email from her as we reached Doha. 


Returning was a denial by heart but happily accepted by our wallets; and a week's stay ended with collection of sweet memories, lot of sand in our bags from the beach clothes; small load of shopping mostly the tea powder and sambols.