Experience Overview

Meet an authority on Sri Lankan elephants for the morning or afternoon to learn about the real story behind elephant captivity. You will visit the Millennium Elephant Foundation (MEF), an organisation with eight elephants in residence. The foundation pays for all food and medical bills for the elephants and also provide elephants with specialist care, an individual mahout and a supporting team. The elephants do no heavy manual work and are well provided for with food, water, vitamins, regular vet checks and medical treatment and regular exercise. Your host, along with a dedicated team at MEF, are fighting for more rights for their elephants, however, captive elephants still have owners and ultimately these owners get decisions over how the elephants are treated. Most of the elephants at MEF are chained up due to the requests of their owners. The foundation also offers elephant riding. Your host is working with the foundation to try and change this, with the aim to eventually release the elephants from their chains and stop elephant riding all together. They will talk you through the efforts of the foundation, give you an opportunity to walk with the elephants, bathe the elephants, and visit the on-site elephant dung factory. This experience allows you to get up-close-and-personal with the elephants whilst understanding the complex issues that affect their conservation within Sri Lanka. Captive elephants – what to expect: The chains that some elephants wear are considered to be for safety, both for their own and of the people they interact with as some elephants can be temperamental. Each elephant has a mahout, a caretaker that stays with the elephant throughout the day, and sometimes at night as well. Being a mahout is a dangerous job, all mahouts use a hook that touches some 96 pressure points in the animal’s body to control it – when used correctly, the hook does not hurt the animal. None of the elephants at MEF are used for labor.