Tsavo National Park Elephant Orphanage
Tsavo National Park Elephant Orphanage : In Ithumba, the orphans prepare for their day with the rising sun, they begin to stir just as the first rays peek above the horizon. Some slowly get to their feet many of the youngest elephants still sleep lying down while others are already snacking at the branches left over from the night before, outside the stockades, shadowy figures emerge from the wilds of Tsavo National park, these are our wild-living orphans, who like to begin the day with us when they are in the area.
The team has already up for quite time. There are currently 30 dependent orphans at Ithumba, and caring for them is not a small task. In the mixing area, several keepers prepare warm bottles for the elephants who are still milk-dependant. At this point, the air always erupts in a chorus of rumbles and trumpets from the orphans; some impatient for their milk, others just excited to get day started, just like at the Nursery, young elephants are fed in shifts to keep the process as orderly as possible. The orphans know the drill, lining up at the back of their stockades where the keepers dole out bottles. After everyone’s had their fill, the stockade gates are opened, while many dart out, eager to catch up with their friends, others prefer to meander slowly.
Outside the orphans continue during the morning feast with Lucerne, a nutritious type of alfalfa, visiting the ex-orphans, and even wild friends, also get to enjoy this second course, the elephants don not blink an eye when the keepers walk among them, dispersing flakes of Lucerne. During the dry season, that when sustenance is hard to come by, we notice more wild visitors arrive to take advantage of this sunrise banquet.
By the general consensus, the dependent herd decides that it is time to move onto the next activity. Few of the orphans walk in the direction of the bush, then look back, as if signaling to their friends that it is time to go, while a team of keepers leads them out into the wilds of Tsavo National Park, another group remains behind to clean up the compound. After mucking out the stockades, they bring all the orphan’s leftover branches to the wood chipper, where they are turned into mulch.
During in the bush, our orphans and their keepers meet some of these creatures face to face, by now, most of Ithumba’s wild residents are aware of our unique human-elephant family and give the group a wide berth. Elephants are the exception to this rule, through their incredible means of communication, the complexities of which we can only marvel at, word has clearly gotten out that we are safe haven. Decades ago, long before we had a presence here, poachers decimated Ithumba’s elephant population and the survivors all but abandoned the area, over the years, we have seen a steady uptick in wild elephants returning, and how it is common to see 50 or even 100 in a single day. It is remarkable tot chart how the elephants’ situation has evolved since we established Ithumba in 2004.
The midday mud bath has become the designated social hour for Ithumba’s elephants. The orphans arrive promptly at 11 o’clock for their bottles. After guzzling their milk, the orphans continue on to the water hole for a swim, here, they are usually joined by a number of wild bulls, while these visits are a regular occurrence, the Ithumba herd is always delighted to have such impressive elephants in their midst. The bulls tend to loll in the deepest part of the pool, where they can submerge their enormous bodies in the water, while the orphans cluster by the edge, splashing around like a school of fish.
As the orphans keep themselves entertained, the keepers enjoy their lunch, they dine with an assortment of creatures around them, hornbills greedily flapping their wings and squirrels chirping impatiently. There is even a shrewd group of vervet monkeys who follow the keepers from the stockades out into the bush, knowing that they will benefit from these lunchtime handouts.
As the sun begins to set, it is time to head home, the orphans happily follow their keepers back knowing that cozy stockades and a final milk feed of the day await them, there are five bedrooms in Ithumba, and everyone innately knows which is theirs, that is the youngest orphans sleep in the far left stockade, with each stockade housing progressively older groups. The far right stockade is located furthest from the keeper’s quarters and closet to the exterior water troughs, so the oldest orphans who sleep within greater opportunity to fraternize with wild elephants who come by during the night to thrill while on Kenya Tours .
During sundown signals the end of the day for our orphans, is also heralds in our second wave of wild visitors, we never know who to except, during some nights, just a small bachelor herd of bulls turns up, other days, dozens wild-living orphans and friends emerge from the bush, with their tiny babies scampering at their feet. Throughout the night, the visitors continue to filter through, some choose to spend several hours outside the stockades, knowing it is a place they can rest safety. others stop only a quick drink moving on, that is the magical thing about Ithumba, not so long ago, it was rare to see even a single elephant here, now generations of elephants converge beneath the star-studded sky. In time, our orphans will join their ranks, but for now these little miracles sleep soundly in their stockades, while the promise of a wild future awaits them outside.
