With this story, I would like to thank the wonderful people who are paying attention to the situation of Sri Lanka’s elephants and trying to raise awareness in the community. These are brave women and men who have the courage to tell the world that the situation of elephants, both in Sri Lanka and around the world, needs to be improved. I am grateful for the experience that elephants are very sensitive and beautiful animals.
I was looking forward to visiting the Elephant Freedom Project in Sri Lanka. In April 2025, I went there and got to hug an Asian elephant for the first time in my life.
Who are Kumari and Menike?
The Elephant Freedom Project (EFP) cares for two elephants, Kumari and Menike. They were previously hard-working and abused animals, who now walk around without chain, without anyone harming them. They no longer carry tourists on their backs, but they do carry the scars of their past slave labor. The EFP is an ethical project that prioritizes the well-being and health of the animals.
You can get your Instagram snap for a snack
Elephants have learned that everyone who comes to see them brings them a snack. They remind me of playful dogs. They agree that you can get your Instagram snaps while you shovel cucumber or pumpkin pieces into their mouths. Elephants are like eating machines, they can’t get enough of a cucumber, but it’s still nice for dessert. It may happen that after one piece of cucumber, they won’t even lift their trunk to their mouth. But give them two at once! It’s just so funny when a huge animal starts poking you with its long trunk, saying, Well, where’s my snack? The end of the trunk is very soft and for some reason a little muddy.
One of the elephants is a little jealous and occasionally checks to see if there’s something better in the other elephant’s mouth. Since elephants are social animals, they are always together here and are very happy with it.
Have you ever looked into the eyes of an elephant?
Many have seen sad zoo animals. It is quite another thing to look into the eyes of a free animal, stroke its skin and feel what a big, warm and kind heart it can have. To discover the character of the animal and understand that it also has the right to be angry at your stupidity. An elephant’s eye seems mysteriously dark and funny small for such a large animal. Its skin is surprisingly soft and leathery.
I left a piece of my heart with Kumari and Menike. I am sure they will keep it carefully. And I would never have thought that their hearts would be so warm. It is a very good feeling to put my head against the head of such a large animal. If I wanted to go back anywhere in Sri Lanka, it would be there.
Did you know that the Asian elephant’s head is heart-shaped? And that the African elephant does not have the characteristic pigment spots that the Asian elephant has? Do you know how many teeth an elephant has and do they change? You can find out a lot more on the EFP.
The author of the photo is Külli
You can do the next click when you wash the elephants
A tourist can be useful by washing the elephants in the river with a piece of coconut shell. Elephants knows that if they stand still, they don’t have to do anything themself. Let the tourist do the work. The sun is shining, the water is splashing. Spa!
And then the elephants go for a walk
The elephants knows that if the tourist wants to see them walk, please give them a foot massage. Only the elephant’s caretaker (mahout) can do this. Elephant stretches out one foot and the mahout scratches it a little. And then the elephant wanders around, taking bark and hay for food. An exotic sight for the tourist. Plus, a little tropical rain.
How can you help
In order to ensure that the elephants are under a watchful eye and do not wander to the neighbors, that they have a proper, strong house for the night, that the company’s employees are well, etc., the activity with elephants are organized for tourists. Every rupee or dollar brought by visitors is very helpful. If the EFP runs out of money, the elephants will have to go back to forced labor. However, there is hope that people’s interest and awareness of nature will continue to grow and at least two Asian elephants can continue their happy lifestyle.
The people of Sri Lanka
The entire EFP staff are very caring and friendly, and it is so nice to interact with them. They are truly concerned about the general mistreatment of Sri Lankan elephants and their work will hopefully change the mindset of both Sri Lankans and tourists.
Why don’t elephants dance
In captivity, elephants, tied to a short chain, acquire the habit of swaying from side to side. This is not dancing! Elephants must be able to move a lot and freely during the day. When they are in captivity, they cannot do this, and they have no other way of moving than by swaying their bodies. When they are free, they cannot get rid of this habit, and people think that this is how an elephant dances. What a pity that the two-legged ones do not bother to delve a little into the situation of the creatures from whom they demand favors. For example, riding.
How delicate and sensitive elephants really are
Quickly and in large numbers, get on an elephant’s back, a picture for Insta or Facebook and oh, I’ve been to Asia now, envy me. Do you have any sense in your head? An elephant’s back is very delicate and it’s not a riding horse. In captivity, however, an elephant sometimes carries 80 people a day. When there are no tourists, the animal is chained to a short chain in the sun. In addition, the guards prick the elephants with special sharp-tipped hooks so that the animal only steps where it is supposed to. In addition, they shout at the elephants. Tourist, would you want your days to pass like this?
In addition, the elephants and baby elephants had to work to carry logs out of the forest, which was beyond their strength. Also in the circus. Fortunately, people’s awareness has already begun to rise that the circus is not the right thing. And the life of the temple elephants is said to have been particularly horrific.
Who is responsible for the elephants? Does the elephants purr?
Every elephant in the EFP has its own caretaker (mahout) who is responsible for it and watches over it. This caretaker will be with it for the rest of its life if possible. People who only care about money don’t care about animals at all and torture them even outside of their so-called working hours. The EFP elephant mahouts take great care of the animals – you can see that. They don’t have any sharp hook and if they feel that the elephant might start to get nervous, they simply hug this big animal, communicate with it and the animal starts making rumbling sound. It’s a bit like purring. If I understood correctly (and sorry if I didn’t, haha), then the fact that an elephant purrs contentedly and pees at the same time is supposed to mean that it is happy. In my opinion, it was. Repeatedly.
Just in case, I’m saying don’t run into the jungle to hug any wild elephant. They are big wild animals and don’t get the joke.
The people at EFP work very hard to keep the elephants and tourists happy and well cared for.
The author of the photo is Külli
The truth about freedom
Yes, Kumari and Menike are not really wild elephants either. They have been captives for a very long time. The elephants do not belong to EFP, they have very rich owners who do not want to give up the elephants because elephants are a status symbol. (If the owners did sell them, they would get new baby elephants, status symbol.) EFP has to pay rent to the elephant owners.
If the elephants were to go back to their owners, they would end up in slavery again, for example, in a company that offers riding to tourists. Riding companies also rent elephants from their owners. The activity that EFP offers is much better for the elephants. Their current job is to eat vegetables from tourists, have their pictures taken and water poured over them, walk around in the forest and let tourists look at them. They would not be able to survive among wild elephants. So EFP is the best that is possible for these animals.
Yes, the elephants are chained at night because that is what their owner wants and so that the elephants don’t go off on their own to cause trouble. EFP is trying to change the mindset of owners and other people and is also building a larger building where the elephants can be kept at night without them having to be chained. Their mahouts also have to eat and sleep and can’t watch over them 24/7.
What is your pet’s job?
Who complains now – when you get a dog or a cat, it’s also their job to let you scratch, cuddle, feed and wash them. You choose where they sleep or how long they live. When you go for a walk with your animal, it’s on a short leash. Some city animals never get outside. The owner doesn’t allow them to interact with other animals. But I believe that as the world changes rapidly, people’s mindsets are changing more and more.
And don’t the truly wild elephants living in national parks, near which a large number of tourists drive by in jeeps and rumbling buses every day, feel disturbed? What do you think?
What Elephant Freedom Project offers
We spent more than 3 hours with the elephants, and also had a delicious home-cooked lunch at the guesthouse and an overview of elephants life in Sri Lanka. The project aims to give people a deeper experience. Only a few people are allowed to observe the elephants at a time, snacks are provided for the animals, and care is taken to avoid misunderstandings between the animals and people.
You can also stay overnight and volunteer at the EFP
The guesthouse is a cozy and clean home of a family where you can rent a room. When Küll and I visited it, there was one English woman’s birthday. The women of the EFP offered a birthday cake and we got a piece too!
An English woman had stayed at the EFP guesthouse for a few days and also helped with housework and elephant activities. I was even seriously considering such an opportunity. Maybe I will do it during one of my birthdays. Also for the cake.
How to get there
The address of the EFP in Sri Lanka is Rambukkana Road, Randeniya, Kegalle. It is between Negombo and Kandy, and a 2-2,5-hour drive from the airport. You could fit it into your travel plan either after arriving on the island or before your flight. I stayed in Kandy and made a trip from there.
What to look out for when ordering a taxi!
You can order a reliable taxi from the EFP page. That’s what I did. The taxi picked us up and took back to Kandy in the evening. You can also get there by bus, train and then by tuktuk. However, if you come by your own taxi or tuktuk, it may happen that the driver takes you to some other elephant park (and honestly assures you that this is the place you wanted to go). He gets paid for it from the elephant park there. For example, the (infamous) Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is only 5 km away from the EFP and if you don’t look ahead, you might end up there instead.
In my opinion, Pinnawala is just the kind of place where elephants are slaved for tourists (oh Instagram!) and if no tourists, then the animals are being mistreated. Don’t encourage such activities, otherwise nothing will change in the world. You can google it yourself, different people have shared information.
For more information about Sri Lanka Elephant Freedom Project
You can register for the visit and read more about the EFP here: Elephant Fredom Project.
I am so touched by the great and important work this lovely group of women is doing in educating the community! I got to hug several of them myself!
YOUR every step determines the direction the world is moving in!