Today was a great full day in Sri Lanka. We headed to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage early this morning. The ride was a bit bumping and windy but our tour guide is great. He does a good job of explaining the history of Sri Lanka and explaining the next tour we are going on. At the Elephant Orphanage we were able to see them bathe and feed. Only 5% of male elephants have tusks, which I was extremely shocked about. At the orphanage there are 3 generation elephants. Throughout the country there are approximately 8500 wild elephants. After visiting the orphanage we headed to a tea plantation. The British are the ones who brought tea to Sri Lanka in 1860. Before producing tea the country produced coffee. I was surprised to learn green tea and black tea come from the same tea plant. The difference between the two is black tea is fermented. Which I love black tea, I drink it all the time back home. While driving to each excursion I learned a lot about the history of Sri Lanka. Such as the country was named Sri Lanka in 1972. The British, Portuguese, and Dutch wanted control of the country but were unsuccessful in capturing the last standing kingdom, Kandy. The kingdom lasted for 2500 years. Eventually the British captured the city in a trade. Then Sri Lanka gained its Independence in 1948. Something our tour guide mentioned which I thought was very fascinating is no one else in the world speaks or writes from the 3rd century BC.