Elephant Orphanage

                                             www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

At the current rate elephant poaching, with an estimated 1 elephant killed every 15 minutes for its ivory, a lack of action could see the loss of wild elephants in Africa by 2025. Thankfully, the elephant orphanage in Nairobi takes in injured & abandoned babies whose mothers have been killed by poachers. They are given medical treatment and bottle fed for 3 yrs and then released back into the wild. 

They are fed 2 bottles EVERY 3 HRS, 24-7!!! 

Some of the older ones hold the bottle themselves! Have you ever seen anything cuter?!?

Coming here was our "consolation prize" for not getting to go on safari with the rest of our team ($1000 x 4 was waaay out of our price range). It was an amazing up-close & personal experience! 

They give a very educational talk while the elephants are being fed, which of course we enjoyed. There was even a school group there on a field trip.

When it's time to eat they come running out of the forest in great excitment for their bottles:

And cross a little bridge single file...

There are 2 orphaned ostriches, named Pea & Pod, they found as infants near an elephant kill who also live at the sanctuary and have grown up here:

And then there's the resident wart hogs:

More close-up pictures of elephants to follow in he next post.....