A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Kitulgala, Sri Lanka by TravelPod blogger Trent titled "White Water Rafting Elephants" Trent’s travel blog entry: "After a few days in Kandy it was time to get moving so we started this day off early and drove out to the elephant orphanage at Pinnawela, did some white water rafting in the afternoon, and finished with a drive to Adam's Peak...though only about 200 km in total, this was through small, winding village roads with wild Sri Lankan drivers! First was the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage. The orphanage was primarily designed to afford care and protection to the many baby elephants found in the jungle without their mothers. In most of these cases the mother had either died or been killed. In some instances the baby had fallen into a pit and in others the mother had fallen in and died. One of the main goals, other than elephant care, is to attract both local and foreign visitors, the income from which helps to maintain the orphanage. (www.elephant.se In an attempt to simulate the conditions in the wild, the elephants are allowed to roam "freely" during the day and a herd structure allowed to form. In the mornings the babies are fed milk, while the adults graze on the grasslands. Both in the morning and afternoon, the elephants are walked to the local river for two hours of bathing and playtime. It was quite interesting to see the animals untethered up-close and see them play and bathe in semi-freedom. Definitely ...