A morning at the elephant transit home.

I knew I wanted to see elephants in
Sri Lanka.

But I don’t think I was prepared for how I would feel seeing the babies.

I arrived at the Elephant Transit Home in the morning, just in time to watch the young elephants being fed.

And then they came running.

Milk time

They were still so small.

Some of them had that wonderful fluffy hair on their heads — almost
like
little dandelions.

And the moment they realised it was feeding time, they started running towards the
milk bottles.

Not walking.

Running.

Some could hardly wait their turn. Others seemed determined to get there first, squeezing in and trying to sneak ahead of the others.

I couldn’t stop watching them.

There was something so joyful about
their excitement.

The little ones

What stayed with me most was how young they looked.

You could see that they were still babies in every possible way — curious, energetic, impatient and completely focused on the milk in front of them.

They would run towards the bottles, drink eagerly and then move away, while another little elephant waited for its turn.

For a few minutes, everything was
about milk.

And watching them was simply wonderful.

More than a cute moment

Of course, seeing baby elephants is an easy way to fall in love with them.

But standing there also made me think about why places like the Elephant Transit Home exist in the first place.

These are young elephants that have been separated from their mothers and need care before they can hopefully return to the wild.

That changes the way you look at them.

They are adorable, yes.

But they are also wild animals whose story should eventually lead them
back to where they belong.

What I took away

I went there expecting to see elephants.

I didn’t expect to spend so much time watching the smallest ones race towards their milk bottles, their little heads bouncing as they ran.

It was funny, beautiful and incredibly touching at the same time.

And somewhere between the laughter, the excitement and all those little dandelion heads running around, I realised how easy it is to become emotionally attached to an animal you’ve only been watching for a
few minutes.

That morning stayed with me.

Not just because the elephants
were beautiful.

But because, for a little while, I got to watch them simply be babies.