A dilemma on the road to Galle

We had another long drive ahead of us this morning so again set an alarm - and again woke up before it! So we had plenty of time to pack what little we had unpacked and enjoy breakfast in the hotel's pleasant restaurant area. The buffet selection was quite limited but I had a good cheese omelette from the egg station.

Champi picked us up at 8.30 and as we started to drive out of Kandy through the heavy morning traffic mentioned that there were some places we could visit on the way to Galle: a tea factory, a gem store or an elephant orphanage. We had visited a tea factory in Kerala and had no interest in buying gems, but I do like elephants! And the mention of an orphanage brought to mind the wonderful one we'd visited in Nairobi, so we agreed to that.

As we drove however I started to wonder. Why had Selective Asia not suggested including this? Were there concerns about the treatment of the elephants perhaps? But I felt a bit at a loss about how to check. I had no access to data to do some research and in any case I might not be able to identify which place Champi had in mind as he hadn't named it. And there was no point asking him about its ethics, as clearly he would think it OK to visit and probably wouldn't understand my concerns. I also didn't want to upset him as he'd been so good about not taking offence when we complained about his lack of guiding expertise. So I decided to keep quiet and hope to find that the orphanage was run responsibly.

We arrived just before 10.00 and Champi explained that at that time the elephants were led down to the river to bathe. So we joined other tourists waiting beside the road to see them pass. I was reassured to see that the orphanage appeared to be state-run, which seemed to me to be a good sign. And there were other Western groups there which seemed to indicate that tour operators were comfortable with the set-up here. But when the elephants passed us, I noticed that some of the men walking with them had metal hooks on their poles, which was a less good sign.

We paid to go into the centre but of course there were relatively few elephants there as most were down by the river. About a dozen remained in an open pen where they were being fed fruit by tourists. I had no intention of paying to join in but before we knew it Champi had bought a basket of fruit for us. I got the feeling he was trying to compensate for his shortcomings as a guide elsewhere on the trip by giving us a good experience here. So we took the basket, fed the elephants and I have to confess, despite my misgivings, enjoyed doing so.

We then left the centre to go down to the river to see the elephants there. We had to show our tickets to access the area. At the foot of the track was a hotel with a terrace from which we could watch and a rocky shoreline. Lots of elephants were in the water and being sprayed from a hose which they seemed to enjoy. Most were free to wander around, and some went over to the far bank to enjoy a dust bath. But a few were tethered (Champi said because they couldn't be trusted not to wander off) and one tusker in particular looked rather upset. I was also disappointed to see that some tourists had paid to be able to wash the elephants.

Of course afterwards I looked up the orphanage by name, Pinnawala. And unfortunately I found that on balance I had been right to be uncomfortable about the visit, though it wasn't all bad. The biggest positive is that Pinnawala doesn't allow elephant riding. And on the whole they are kept in better conditions than in most other places in the country. But a report some years ago by the Born Free Foundation found that:

There are also concerns that some of the elephants are bred for the centre rather than being genuine orphans. Had I known these facts, which are borne out by my own observations, I would have declined the visit and tried to explain why to Champi. As it is, I can't undo the fact that we went, but I can share my concerns here, so others are better informed than we were. I also fed back to Selective Asia who confirmed that they deliberately don't include Pinnawala on their itineraries and said that they would speak to the local tour company to ensure future guests weren't taken there. But I do have to acknowledge that Champi meant well in proposing the visit. He could have taken offence when we raised our misgivings about his lack of guiding experience/ability but instead was trying extra hard to give us a good time. Later in the day he even revealed that he'd bought us a carved wooden elephant as a gift!

Back in the car we still had a long distance to cover. The first part of the drive, which took us close to Colombo, was on a busy road passing through lots of small towns with sometimes manic traffic. But close to the capital we picked up a motorway, known in Sri Lanka as an Expressway, and from then on the drive was fast and smooth.

We stopped for drinks at a service area and arrived at the outskirts of Galle around 2.30. It took Champi a while however to pinpoint the entrance to our hotel, the Charleston, in the maze of narrow one-way streets.

We checked in and were shown to a spacious room on the ground floor. We were also given a tour of the facilities and decided to book a table for dinner in the well-reviewed restaurant upstairs, Charlie's.

Our room

Then we went out for a short walk to check out the immediate area. We went up on to the old fort walls to get a view of the sea, then found a friendly cafe where I had a mango ice cream and Chris a coffee. We took a few photos too of course, then went back to the hotel to settle in properly, feeling we were going to rather like Galle.

In the evening we had a great time at Charlie's. We had an excellent table on the terrace where it was still quite warm but with a hint of freshness off the sea. We enjoyed pre-dinner drinks and very well cooked food. Chris really liked his mutton curry while my tuna in a lemongrass sauce was spot-on medium rare and the accompanying vegetables also just right. My only criticism was that, like many meals in Sri Lanka, it was barely lukewarm when served. But I couldn't fault my rum cheesecake dessert at all!