About this experience
Picked up from your Kandy hotel at 7:30 am, you travel by air-conditioned vehicle with an English-speaking chauffeur guide to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage — a 1.5-hour drive. Founded in 1975, the orphanage cares for roughly 90 elephants, including orphaned and injured animals. Spend the morning feeding them and watching them bathe before departing around 10:30 am, with time to stop for lunch en route to Minneriya.
Your safari at Minneriya National Park begins at 2:30 pm and runs for three hours. The park is renowned for the Great Elephant Gathering (August–October), when over 150 Asian elephants converge on the Minneriya Reservoir. Outside those months, resident elephants still visit the reservoir at dusk. Deer, langurs, sloth bears, crocodiles and birds round out the wildlife on offer. Your safari ends at 5:30 pm, and you're back in Kandy by 8:30 pm. Note: entrance fees and the safari jeep ride are not included.
