Nairobi

Back there, here they come: 1, 2, 3, 15, about 20 small and tiny elephant orphans, led by keepers in green aprons who hold big, colourful umbrellas over two especially gaunt little ones to protect them from the sun.

At a restrained speed, the animals come down a hill towards big milk bottles with suction cups, a puddle of mud and the waiting tourists who have gathered, as they do every day, at 11 o’clock at Daphne Sheldrick’s orphanage close to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. They do not want to miss the feeding of the orphaned elephant babies, which is only open to the public once a day. The animals spend the rest of the day learning, resting and in frequent physical contact with the keepers who replace their mothers a tiny bit. When the little ones begin the play, the caretakers’ moods lift, as this is the best sign that they have “made it” and will survive. Approximately 18 litres of milk substitute per day help them.

It would be better if there weren’t any mini-elephants, but sadly, there is an unusually large number. This can mean only one thing: poaching has increased again. Elephants are still killed for ivory although it has been banned for decades. The calves remain standing next to their mothers’ slaughtered bodies, robbed of their white tusks, and feel the familiar, lifeless bodies with their little trunks until, in the best case, they are found by game wardens and brought to Nairobi. It is shocking to some that Kenya’s neighbouring country, Tanzania, recently proposed that the status of African elephants on the list of endangered species be reduced from “endangered” to “vulnerable.” The revenues from ivory originating from naturally deceased elephants or from authority’s inventories is supposed to go to species and nature conservation – a likely story. Kenya spoke out against the proposal. This is good, for nature conservationists observe that every time bans on species protection are loosened, poaching increases. As the Kenyan Wildlife Service has ascertained, this year alone almost 100 elephants have been killed for their tusks; two years ago the number was 47. Approximately 35,000 elephants now live in Kenya.

If you observe the little grey orphans, it makes you wish you could beam the Tanzanian neighbours onto the plot behind Mbagathi Gate at Nairobi National Park so that they could see them as they frolic in the water, push the keepers about, suck on their bottles, hold their trunks in the water barrels and, in some few cases, apathetically, even sadly watch the others. When they turn their heads and let their trunks hang like that and simply stare straight ahead, you can almost feel their longing for their mothers. Yet, the ivory trade is about money and no baby elephant can fight that.

The entry fee for the orphanage, which also shelters other young animal species, is 300 Kenyan shillings, or about three euros.

The staff is delighted, though, if more is offered. The care of one elephant calf costs roughly 650 euros per month. Since the founding of the animal orphanage almost thirty years ago, about fifty animals have been raised and returned to the wild.

After an hour of drinking milk, playing in the water hole until they can hardly get back out and talks by the keepers for the tourists, the little herd of elephant orphans moves off again, up the hill to the rest they need for survival.

Information and donations: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org.

Swahili of the Day: Pembe ya ndovu means ivory.