App. 55 miles from Colombo, off the Colombo - Kandy road is Pinnawela, where an orphanage was started in 1975 to house the abandoned and the wounded elephants. The number of elephants has increased to more than 65 now; including Baby Elephants brought from various parts, as well as the 23 babies born, as a result of the captive breeding programme. The best time to visit is the feeding time from 0930-1000 hrs and 1330-1400 hrs and the bathing time from 1000-1030 hrs and 1400-1430 hrs when all the elephants are taken to the river close by.
Sigiriya is home to the 5th Century ‘ Fortress in the Sky” which is perhaps the most fantastic single wonder of the Island. It is also known as Lion Rock because of the huge lion that used to stand at the entrance to the fortress. Within it triple-moated defence the huge rock rises almost to a sheer height of 500ft.On its summit are the foundations of what was once a great and sumptuous palace and gardens complete with swimming pool. On one of the stairways the only known ancient work of Sinhala secular painting survived in the form of frescoes of life sized damsels in all the freshness and delicacy of their original. 
Dambulla is a vast isolated rock mass 500ft high and a mile around the base. Here is found the famous Rock Temple dating to the First Century BC. The caves of Dambulla sheltered the King Walagamba during his 14 years of exile from Anuradhapura. When he regained the throne he built the most magnificent of Rock Temples to be found on the Island. In the first Cave is a recumbent image of the Buddha 47ft long cut out of the Rock. There are images of deities associated with Buddhism all around. The frescoes on the ceiling date back to the 15th - 18th Centuries. In the Second Cave, the finest and the largest of all, there are 150 life-size statues of Gods from the Buddhist religion along with numerous images of the Buddha himself. The ceiling is also covered with frescoes, which depict great events in the life of the Buddha and landmarks in the history of the Sinhala people.
