CHANDANA

One of the reasons I took up hosting a TV travel show was for the opportunity to interact with animals, in different countries, in the wild or domesticated.

My recent trip to Sri Lanka was memorable, indeed. I spent an entire day at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, which comprises handicapped and homeless elephants.

Of these, some were blind, some had one limb, and then there were some baby elephants separated at birth.

I was amazed to see how systematically these elephants follow a regimen. They have specific feeding and bathing hours during which they travel together in herds, whether it?s going down to the lake for a much-needed cold bath to ward off the heat or the spread of food (mainly fruits and vegetables) to gorge on.

I fed the baby elephants milk from a feeding bottle, while the adults gorged on bananas. I was a little disturbed to see the huge but docile animals held in captivity. But later I was told that after 5 pm, the animals were left to wander about in the orphanage.

If Sri Lanka seems far off, one can visit the Corbett National Park in Delhi for a closer glimpse of elephants.

Tip: If you inform the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage before hand, you can drop in as volunteers and help the elephants bathe and feed. But you need to be very careful about isolated tuskers.