We offer a special elephant encounter which is suitable for young and old, families, couples and single travelers. This is your chance to get a memorable impression of a day in the life of 2 lucky Sri Lankan captive elephants who are not being used for working nor riding.
We aim to give you an exclusive experience. To keep a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere for the elephants and you, we limit the amount of visitors per day.
Our elephants - Almost all we do is centered around our adorable elephants Manika and Seetha.
Manika is nearly 40 years old and used to work in the wood logging industry. She has been doing this hard work for over 30 years before we rescued her.
When she first arrived at the project she was an angry and aggressive lady. Within two days at our project she visibly calmed down and since she is getting more and more relaxed by the day. Manika still gets a little anxious when being touched except whilst having a bath in the river. She is a great elephant and the interaction is totally safe.
At the end of March we welcomed Seetha. She is a lady elephant and like Manika also about 40 years old. Seetha has been working in the tourist industry for a long time. She was used by tourists to ride on her. We will have to see if Manika and Seetha get along, if they do we hope Seetha will stay with us forever.
Seetha has been at our project before, in July last year. That time she had a very bad mahout (elephant keeper) and we couldn't deal with that person. He was hitting her and was drinking alcohol and smoking while being with her. We told Seetha's owner that we really liked the elephant but didn't see a future for her mahout at the project. At that time the owner decided to choose for the mahout and Seetha had to leave the project.
This time Seetha has a new mahout and it's time for a second chance.
Renting elephants - In Sri Lanka it is common for most elephant places to rent their elephants. We are also renting our elephants. By renting we give them a life most elephants could only dream off and ensure they don’t end up at a riding place or another bad environment filled with pain and anguish.
Buying an elephant is almost impossible. Most elephant owners are very rich and care about the status an elephant gives them and their family - they won't consider to sell or give away their prized possession. Our deepest wish is to give a better life to all of these wonderful animals. We are actively searching to get more elephants to live with us, however it is very difficult. There are (fortunately!) not many captive elephants in Sri Lanka, but the owners usually don't care about the welfare of their elephant.
We are the only place in Sri Lanka that tries to improve the lives of privately owned elephants without offering rides or any other form of elephant entertainment. The Elephant Freedom Project is the alternative to all these places where elephants are still used as a tourist attraction usually accompanied by animal cruelty.
The mahouts (elephant care taker) - Every elephant has their personal mahout who stays with them for all their life. He usually comes from a family of mahouts with centuries of experience. Unfortunately their way of dealing with elephants is based on negative reinforcement. To make them see that treating the elephant with love and care is better remains difficult, very difficult.
The project is impossible without the mahout because he is the only one who is allowed by the owner to control the elephant. When renting an elephant the mahout (elephant keeper) is part of the package. We are not the employer of the mahout (the owner is) which makes the situation very complicated at times.
The mahout is motivated by money, they usually don't see their job as a privilege. At an average elephant tourist place the mahouts receive a huge amount of tips every day from the many tourists. Since we allow only a very small number of visitors per day he will miss this extra income -despite the good salary we pay him.
We ask a lot from our mahout: no drinking, no hitting of the elephants, no shouting, no smoking, no asking for tips, be nice and passionate. It sounds crazy but in most other places abusive behavior is going on day after day. Obviously not at our project. From the point of view of the mahout we set difficult conditions to work in.
To keep the mahouts motivated we would be very thankful for your support in the form of a tip if you are happy with his behavior.
Are we using chains - We take our elephants on walks through the rural area to get their recommended exercise. During the walks outside the project grounds they will carry a light chain around their neck and the mahouts will carry an ankus. The mahouts are not permitted to use the ankus in an abusive way and rarely uses it at all. If we don't bring the chain and ankus we might be held liable in case of an incident which may result in the closure of the project.
The elephants are chained at night. This is not our choice, we have build an enclosure ensuring they don't have to been chained at all. However, their owners are scared something will happen to them at night if they are walking free. We are trying to change their mind but this process will take a long time unfortunately. We are ready for it, now it's the owners turn.
No riding - Unlike any other organisation the Elephant Freedom project does NOT allow elephant riding (please see this YouTube movie on why riding is not good - Viewer discretion advised). Elephants are our number one priority and we give them the best life we can. During the day our elephants can usually roam around freely inside the enclosure. Once or twice a day they go for a guided walk in the countryside and gets to the river every day to be washed. You won’t find this anywhere else in the country. Please note, in order to get to the nice places we have to walk 5 or 10 minutes on the busy road.
For everyone - The project is for young and old, families, couples and single travelers. Everyone is warmly welcomed by our fantastic local host family & the team.