Detour
By CHRIS STOWERS

TRAVEL WATCH Jetlag?Learn How To Get Time On Your Side Your mouth feels dry, your eyes are bloodshot, you're drowsy at 4 in the afternoon, your stomach feels like hell-and you're 3,000 km from home. Detour For visitors to Sri Lanka, the elephant orphanage at Pinnewala is a must-see. Web Cr@wling Makansutra

For visitors to Sri Lanka, the elephant orphanage at Pinnewala is a must-see. It's magically reminiscent of the dancing elephants in Disney's version of The Jungle Book. To get there, drive 30 minutes from the town of Kandy into the western tropical hill country. The orphanage, home to 60 elephants, is set on 11 hectares of scrub land and palm groves bordered by the Maya Oya River. The babies are bottle-fed five times a day. As they guzzle their milk and play with the bottles, the spiky-haired mini-pachyderms elicit much cooing from the enraptured audience.

For most of the day the orphans, who range in age from one month to 60 years, are chained to tree trunks or lie around soaking up the shade in their open-sided pens. From time to time, they are allowed to roam free under the watchful eyes of their keepers. And twice daily (at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.) the entire herd is led across the road and down to the river to bathe. Here, amid much trumpeting and water-spraying, the beasts frolic with their mahouts and tourists. As practically all of the elephants take part, the waterfests are one of the surest ways to see a large number of the animals en masse.

As their role in agriculture and industry diminishes, Sri Lanka's 6,000 elephants have become important tourist draws. Travelers can ride them at the country's beaches in the southwest or at safaris near Polonnaruwa ($20 per person for one hour). Or they can view them at Colombo's Deliwala Zoo, at Pinnewala's shaded sanctuary or, best of all, in the Esala Perahera elephant parade, an annual extravaganza in Kandy in July and August. For more information on the Pinnewala Elephant Sanctuary, which is located along the Colombo-Kandy road, call (35) 65804. Entrance fee: $2 for adults, plus $2.50 to bring in a video camera.