About this holiday
Udu Walawe is elephant country. If you train your binoculars in almost any direction you’ll see herds of elephants on the horizon. They come down to graze beside the tracks, chomping on wads of grass the size of hay bales (an Asian elephant eats 880 pounds of fodder every day to support all that weight and produces about 180 pounds of prime organic fertiliser at the other end). And on a dusk safari, you’ll see them at the waterhole, drinking and playing in the shallows.
How to help
About this holiday
Udu Walawe is elephant country. If you train your binoculars in almost any direction you’ll see herds of elephants on the horizon. They come down to graze beside the tracks, chomping on wads of grass the size of hay bales (an Asian elephant eats 880 pounds of fodder every day to support all that weight and produces about 180 pounds of prime organic fertiliser at the other end). And on a dusk safari, you’ll see them at the waterhole, drinking and playing in the shallows.
The national park is a relatively safe haven for these elephants but the same cannot be said for the real world outside the park borders. The population of Sri Lankan elephants has dropped sharply in 200 years as a result of hunting and habitat loss.
They’re a protected species today but still under threat and every year many young elephants are orphaned. Happily, there is a safety net. The Uda Walawe transit home rescues orphaned babies and returns them to the park when they’re old enough to join a wild herd.
The centre has its own hospital and ambulance. Babies are released once a year (around June) wearing a radio collar so scientists can make sure they’ve been accepted into a herd and have a fighting chance of survival. The release day is a huge celebration with priests blessing the babies as they graduate into the wild world. It’s an amazing spectacle but if you miss the annual release you can see the younger elephants being fed any time of year from viewing areas at the transit home.
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