Kandy was the capital of Sri Lanka for two centuries until 1815. The sweet-sounding name of Kandy derives from Kanda Uda Pasrata which means mountainous district. Our first visit was to see the famous Temple of the Tooth, which is considered one of the most important Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka and a sacred pilgrimage for the devout, holding the tooth of Buddha. Our guide Soo refers to this famous shrine as the Temple of the Tooth Relic but with his pronunciation some of us heard “Temple of the Tooth Fairy.” Somehow this sent us all into peals of uncontrollable laughter after a relatively long day.

The Temple of the Tooth is also historically significant as the location where the last Kandyan chief handed over power to the British Empire in 1815. The British immediately built a large Anglican church on the sacred grounds adjacent to the temple as a show of power and it is still intact today. Tamil Tigers bombed the main Temple complex entrance in the late 90s so the entire area is gated off and security is extremely tight subjecting all visitors to bag searches and metal detectors.

Around the temple complex, there is also the Sri Dalada Museum dedicated to the Tooth Relic as well as the Raja Tusker Museum, a memorial for Sri Lanka’s most famous elephant who often carried the Tooth Relic casket during the elaborate festival of Esala Perhera.

Following the temple visit we walked the Royal Botanic Gardens along with courting Sri Lankan lovers and young families enjoying a gorgeous day in an exquisite park. The gardens are a favorite destination for locals and well deserved source of pride and history.

Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage is a sanctuary, operated by the Sri Lankan government which cares for orphaned and injured elephants in their natural surroundings. Established in 1975 by the Department of Wildlife Conservation on a 25-acre (10 ha) coconut plantation on the Maha Oya river, the orphanage was originally founded in order to afford care and protection to the many orphaned elephants found in the jungle.

The aim of the orphanage is to simulate the natural world. However, there are some exceptions: the elephants are taken to the river twice daily for a bath, and all the babies under three years of age are still bottle fed by the mahouts and volunteers. Each animal is also given about 76 kilograms (170 lb) of green roughage a day and around 2 kg (4.4 lb) from a food bag containing rice bran and maize. They also have access to water twice a day at the river.

This elephant orphanage is also a breeding place. More than twenty-three elephants have been born since 1984, and the orphanage claims the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. While most of the elephants are healthy, one is blind, and one, named Sama, has lost her front right leg to a land mine.

A very popular among local and foreign tourist attraction who come to observe the bathing elephants from the broad river bank as the herd interacts socially, bathing and playing.

Check out the great UTube link to the Pinnawela site at the right.