Elephant Orphanage

Baby elephants are hands-down, without a doubt, the cutest things on earth. They win every time. Golden retriever puppies, six-month-old humans, I challenge you to show me an instagram subject cuter than a baby elephant.

Elephants have personality. Their memories are better than the legends about their memories. They are wildly devoted to, and dependent upon, family. Family is so crucial to a baby elephant’s survival that upon arrival at the orphanage and for months after, a keeper will sleep in the stall with the baby elephant lest it never be left alone. Baby elephants that have lost their mother in a terrible way may cry and toss and turn at night even as the keeper tries to soothe them. The bonds developed with their keepers last a lifetime, with many returning to the orphanage as adults to say hello or to introduce their baby to the keepers. It is my sincerest goal that I am good enough in this lifetime to return as an elephant orphanage keeper in my next life.

The job of a keeper is only for Kenyans (and as far as I could tell, only men. I should have asked why.) This works in two ways: it provides jobs to Kenyans and it increases the knowledge about elephants and reinforces that they are worth more alive than dead. Elephants are orphaned due to three reasons: human-wildlife conflict, climate change/droughts, and poaching.

The orphanage in the Nairobi National Park is the first stop for most of these babies (they are calves but it just doesn’t do their cuteness justice!). Depending on the age of the orphan they will stay for several years before moving on to a teenage halfway house out in countryside. There they are integrated with older elephants and eventually released into the wild. They cannot be released unless they are accepted by a herd, dependent as they are on family.

So while they are at the orphanage in Nairobi, you can sign up for tickets to visit them at feeding time each day at 11. They run into the corral in two groups by age, and the keepers greet them with massive bottles of elephant formula. Then they get to play, the youngest first, then the older ones, who just loved the mud.

My family had to drag me away. Jordan, on the other hand, brought his books and sat on a bench reading. Baby elephants, NBD. It was only an hour but it was enough cuteness to last a lifetime.

Check out this particularly moving story: https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans/doldol