Today we took a day tour out to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, also known as the Nairobi Elephant Orphanage. The orphanage takes care of abandoned elephant babies and is located in the outskirts of Nairobi, close to the city national park. We ordered a new Uber where we got to know our driver, Hezbon, over the hour it took to get to the nursery. On our way there we ended up side by side with an entire pack of baboons strolling about.
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Every day at 11.00-12.00 the elephants are fed, and this session can be observed by a limited amount of public. A lot of people usually want to attend this, meaning that the line for getting in can be really long. We got there at 10, an hour before opening, which was about enough to get quite far ahead in the line. While waiting, two warthogs casually went by, but we didn't manage to get them on photo because they disappeared into the jungle. Following below is a short video we made from the trip.
Mad respect to the keepers of the orphan elephants. They provide a special milk formula, specially crafted for these babies, and every elephant requires between 20-30 liters every day. They are being fed every 3 hours both day and night. It was amazing to see how happy and well these small ones seemed to be, given that most of them lost their parents to either drought and disease or to poachers for elephant ivory. The only reason these elephants are becoming orphans by the ivory hunt is because people are still buying ivory. It is just wrong.
Following below are a few pictures from the day, and our driver Hezbon joined us for a few of the pictures!
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