It’s hard to imagine wildlife on the doorstep of a city, but with Nairobi National Park that’s exactly what you have. Only a stone-throw from Nairobi CBD, the National Park is 46 square miles and is home to a variety of animals, birds and plants. It’s too small to accommodate adult Elephants, but within the Park’s parameters is the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust providing shelter to 26 Elephant orphans.
It’s a popular attraction for those visiting the area, but you still feel extremely privileged to get so close to these little treasures – something you’d never be able to do at a zoo, and something far too risky in the wild.
The Trust opens its gates between 11:00am – 12:00pm, and for a very small fee, you can watch the Elephant orphans being fed and playing with each other and their keepers. Visitors stand around a roped-off area with mud baths and milk bottles all laid out. You know something is about to happen, and then in the distance, the first group of 12 or so baby Elephants come trundling along from behind the bush. They know exactly what to do, and make a bee-line for their bottle of choice – a special mix milk formula – perfected after 28 years, it contains vegetable oils, vitamins, coconut and porridge. Some can hold the bottle themselves with their nimble trunks, others need to have it poured into their mouths, and two little ones needed the disguise of a blanket, presumably to resemble the softness and height of their mothers.
Then they go straight for the water buckets for a big drink, and perhaps to wash their trunks, a few playing and making bubbles.
The next activity is nibbling on the branches scattered around for them. It’s hard to see how these scratchy, tough sticks with their small leaves are appetising, but apparently the Elephants instinctively know this vegetation is good for them, as it holds essential nutrients they need to grow.
There is a great show of the keepers shovelling the red dirt and water onto the Elephant orphans –some seeking out the mud shower, others shying away from it.
At one point, two of the toddler orphans – brought out as part of the second, older group – decided to have a bit of a play by one pinning the other on the ground. There was only one small tantrum we saw, and that was in the first group, with one orphan flaring his ears and trumpeting – he was quickly pulled into line by one of the keepers, with a forceful pat and stern words. At first it seemed quite abrupt, but presumably it’s to correct behaviours now in a safe environment, rather than later in the wild when such amateur outbursts might not be tolerated.
Because ultimately that’s what the orphanage is all about – rearing and rehabilitating the Elephant orphans so they can integrate into the wild – specifically, the Tsavo National Park, which has around 12,000 Elephants – 150 of which are ex-orphans. There was commentary about the Elephant orphans, where one of the keepers told us the life story and age of each of the 25 little guys, and the 26th who was too new, young and sick to make an appearance. All had come from rocky beginnings – several had lost their mothers due to poachers, others had fallen down wells, some had run into problems with humans trying to stop herds from ruining their crops. Each orphan went through a period of pining for its mother, and that’s where the keepers would provide around the clock care and trust would be built. The special bond between the orphans and the keepers was obvious – several nudging a keeper for attention after they’d been fed.
There were strong pleads from the keeper to stop elephants becoming orphans at the hands of poachers. He explained how the demand for ivory perpetuated the vicious cycle, as poachers would continue to kill while demand existed. If the demand dried up, the killing would stop. Seems so simple, but I suspect his audience was already agreeable on this point – reaching those who continue to buy and value ivory is obviously the far greater challenge. Perhaps a trip to the shelter might help.
It was an amazing hour, especially when some of the curious little ones would walk along the rope line, allowing themselves to be scratched and stroked.
The Trust also looks after Rhino orphans, and we got to see ‘Maxwell’ in his pen, who was born blind and had undergone operations trying to correct his sight.
But the morning’s events had started with a cameo appearance by a solo rhino. As we were waiting in the car park for the gates to the Elephant shelter to open, a single black rhino emerged from behind the bushes and ambled towards us. Even though we were technically in a National Park, it was still startling and random, and there was a moment where we weren’t quite sure what to do. But he soon wandered away. Our guide explained the difference between black and white rhinos – nothing really to do with their colour, but the shape of their mouth – the white rhino being a ‘grazer’ and the black rhino a ‘browser’.
A fantastic first introduction to Africa. We are now really excited about seeing the orphans’ distant relatives in the wild as we safari Northwest towards Uganda in the coming days.
Information thanks to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and our insightful guide from Lion Trails Safaris.
