The Orphan Elephants of Kenya
Before I came to Africa, I watched a lot of TV shows about it. One such show was a documentary series called "The Elephant Diaries" from BBC. It was about a group of people who use three different foundations to rehabilitate and release orphaned elephants. Each sanctuary is used for elephants at different stages of their development. The youngest ones go to the Sheldrick Foundation, where they are nurtured one-on-one by local men. Later they are moved to a larger place where they can mingle in a semi-wild environment with a herd of like-aged elephants. Lastly, they go to a release camp where they are integrated with a herd that lives without human interaction.
While I was in Kenya, I got to visit the first sanctuary, the Sheldrick Foundation.
These orphans are truly small, although they still weigh more than we do. They do come quite close to you, often you can touch them, although they are rather shy about contact.
Each orphan stays close to and makes regular physical contact with its handler.
There's a lot of trust involved.
Mostly, the elephants are learning how to interact with each other, in a supervised environment. In the wild, elder elephants do monitor and correct the behaviour of the younger ones, so this may feel natural to them, even if the human "elders" aren't quite visually right.
Like any child, these elephants love to play, and an inner tube that they can bat around and fall down on is definitely a favourite toy.
A
few yeas ago, the elephants got a lot of press attention when they were photographed
"playing football (soccer)". They don't really play in any organized
way, but one or two will knock a ball around with foot or trunk. Not sure what
the rules are about touching a ball with your trunk.
