The trust was run for many years by Dame David Sheldrick in memory of her husband David Sheldrick, the founding warden of Tsavo National Park. Dame Daphne died in 2018, but the hand-rearing methods and substitute elephant milk formula that she developed over many years of trial and error will outlive her and are now being replicated across Africa.
During the hour-long open house, the elephant keepers bring their juvenile charges out to play for an hour between 11:00 and 12:00. After some ad hoc football games and mud baths, the elephants and their keepers come up to an informal rope barrier stretched along one side of the ‘playground’ from where you can easily take photos. Each keeper gives a short presentation to the visitors nearest to him, explaining how orphaned elephants need to be cared for. The youngest infants are assigned keepers for individual 24-hour guardianship, a responsibility that includes sleeping in their stables. Without the love of a surrogate family and plenty of stimulation, orphaned baby elephants fail to thrive: they can succumb to fatal infections when teething, and, even if they survive, can grow up disturbed and unhappy and badly prepared for reintroduction to the wild.
9:30am: Pick up from your Hotel for the Sheldrick elephant orphanage trip
10:15am: Arrive at the Daphne Sheldrick orphanage shelter
11:00am: Start of the Public viewing of the baby elephants at the Nairobi Elephant orphanage
12:00pm: End of the public viewing and lecture on baby elephants.
12:15pm: Depart the Daphne Sheldrick elephant orphanage for your hotel.
