Elephant visit

 It’s been amazing and I’ll post more later when I’m on better wifi. We’ve stayed at a posh lodge on the Lewa Conservacy, did a walking safari & camped two nights (supported by 13 camels and 8 Maasai tribesmen), visited a school and village, then flew north to the Samburu region. 

It’s a lot to absorb! Today, to get something up here, I’ll share about yesterday’s visit to the Retiti Elephant Sanctuary. Young elephants sometimes fall in wells, or their parents die, or they get separated from their herd somehow. Community members spot them and call the Sanctuary. 

Sanctuary staff come assess the elephant calf, give immediate assistance if needed (getting them out of the well, for example), and wait 72 hours to see if the mother/herd return to collect the baby. 

If not, they’ll take the calf to the sanctuary for as long as 5 years, feeding them, reintroducing them to the wild, and eventually helping them integrate with a herd. They give lots of chances for the younger ones to find their mothers during those years of caring for them. 

Elephants are very particular and they make a custom bottle for each one, for 8 feedings given around the clock. Each caretaker in the videos has a specific bottle for a certain elephant and are calling their names, which elephants learn and respond to. 

The Sanctuary names each calf after the community that found it, and community members do check back to see how “their” elephant is doing. Part of the formula fed to the elephants is camel and goat milk, purchased from the communities. They pay the group as a whole, and don’t single out specific farmers, so everyone benefits.

Considering 100% of the elephants in this region had been slaughtered by outsiders as recently as 40 years ago, and given the massive drought and poverty here, this is an amazing story of community working together for a massive benefit to the wildlife.