- Address: KWS Central Workshop Gate, off, Magadi Rd, Nairobi, Kenya
- Phone: +254 20 2301396
- Website: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org
- E-mail: info@sheldrickwildlifetrust.org
- Working hours: 11.00 - 12.00, Sunday - closed
- Cost of visit: 500 Kenyan shillings
In the East African country of Kenya, there are several diverse national parks and reserves. In 1946, the first of them was opened in the city of Nairobi . It is considered one of the most extensive and famous throughout the state and is called the Nairobi National Park . On its territory there is a unique nursery in which they are engaged in rehabilitation of elephant-orphans.
General Information on the Elephant Nursery in Nairobi
Elephant nursery in Nairobi was opened in the sixties of the twentieth century by David Sheldrick. The main goal of the center is to preserve the population of elephants that have been affected by poachers, in particular those left without a mother. Hunting for these large animals in Africa is thriving, as the price of one tusk reaches 10 thousand dollars. On the continent (mainly in the reserves) at the moment, according to various estimates, there are from two hundred to three hundred thousand individuals.
Here come as healthy individuals, and seriously ill. There are various specialists on the territory who are ready to provide any kind of medical assistance. Not long ago, an elephant named Murka, who was on the verge of death, was brought here - a spear was stuck in the nasal sinus, and there were a lot of injuries from the ax and spears. The unfortunate animal was pricked with a tranquilizer, carried out the necessary medical manipulations, thereby saving the child's life.
Excursion through the territory of the elephant nursery
From 11 to 12 am elephants are given milk mixtures. At this time, the territory of the nursery is open for visiting. Kids are protected from people, they eat, ride in mud, play with each other, and also approach visitors.
Usually, two groups of lop-eared inhabitants of the center are brought, at which time they can be fed, ironed, and photographed with them. You can be offered to adopt one of the elephants, the fee is from fifty dollars or more. If the visitor agrees to this procedure, then he is allowed to choose his ward, and then feed and play with him. With the guardian sign the contract, and then on his email address will send a photo and all the news concerning the baby, until he leaves the nursery.
Feeding is mewed in the nursery in Nairobi
Babies, who eat only milk, bring bottles with a mixture in a place known to them. Employees put on green jackets and safari hats and hang woolen bedspreads on the branches of trees. Then the words "Kalama, Kitiria, Olara" are shouted loudly and loudly to call the orphans. Wards respond to the call and do not hurry every one to their place. Workers of the center are hiding each kid to warm them before returning home.
The caretakers feed such elephants every three hours. The staff of the center sleep in the stalls, where, at a certain time, the animals wake their trunks with their trunks. By the way, the place of spending the night every day is chosen differently so that the young people do not get used to one person. Older individuals are fed a little less often. In the daytime they are taken out to the bushes of bushes to pinch shoots and leaves. When elephants return back, then seeing workers with bottles of milk, run to them from all directions.
Features of the nursery
Elephants live on the territory of the rehabilitation center until five to seven years, until they begin to feed themselves. When the animal is healthy physically and mentally and is ready to leave the nursery, there are usually two ways out:
- to transport the orphan to the Tsavo National Park , where in eight to ten years the adult animal can return to the wild;
- baby elephant will go to their wild relatives.
Usually it is difficult for elephants to leave the kennel immediately, they are strongly attached to caretakers, but the call of nature always takes its toll and all orphans become full members of the wild herd. Often elephants can go to the rehabilitation center for a visit, show their kids or just relax and eat. Sometimes not quite grown-up elephants, like teenagers, run away for a while, and then come back again.
The main purpose of the elephant nursery in Nairobi is the rescue of animals, this is not a tourist object. Here there is love and friendship. Employees do not use whips and sticks, they just need to raise their hand or say a strict word, so that the kids stop naughty. The rehabilitation center was able to save and provide effective assistance for hundreds of individuals. Usually in the nursery there are about ten ears of lop-eared inhabitants.
How to get to the elephant nursery in Nairobi?
From the capital of Kenya, Nairobi to elephant nursery is most convenient to get there by taxi, usually the driver of the car can drive along the territory of the reserve. If the taxi does not suit you, then it's better to buy an organized tour.
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