Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

Weka turns five today! Our noisiest, most boisterous girl – who was once a silent, emaciated calf spotted from the air during the 2022 drought. Our pilot's sighting saved her life.
She's since graduated to Ithumba, where she continues to keep everyone on their toes.
sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o...

Conservation is a long game. Little Imp – our youngest grandcalf – is what winning looks like.

92 wild-born babies now, whose mothers came to us as orphans. They grew up. They went wild. They started families.

This is what your support makes possible: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o...

Natibu was found submerged and stuck inside a water pipeline manhole. He arrived at Kaluku deeply traumatised — claustrophobic in his stable for a long time after.
The Keepers earned his trust, slowly.
This is the same elephant. No reservations about water whatsoever.www.sheldrickwild...

Who takes your vote? 🐘

Mango and mum Mutara, painted head to toe in Tsavo's red soil. Panya at Voi, looking entirely serene about being one of the newest members of our ex-orphan family. Or little Mica, propped against a sun-baked rock like he owns the place.

sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o...

Pips' unlikely guardian angel? Bela, one of our tracker dogs – who found her on a training patrol back in September.

Today she's growing up at Kaluku Nursery, just down the road from Bela.

Discover Pips' story: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Rescue is just the start. It’s no exaggeration to say Aura wouldn’t be alive today without our community of foster parents who stepped in to help us raise her mother, Arruba, and other orphaned animals. From thousands of miles away, you help create miracles like this.

Sulwe was born on Christmas Day to ex-orphan Sonje and a besotted bull named Osama. Now she's growing wild in the same Umani forest where her mum's "honeymoon" played out.

The full story is worth a read.

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

We'd been bracing for a difficult season after poor rains. Then the heavens opened – waterpans filled, rivers flowed, and wildlife spread across an unlocked landscape.
When the rains fail, our work doesn't stop. 52 boreholes and nine water bowsers keep Tsavo alive: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/n...

Between October and December, we planted or donated 21,894 tree seedlings to communities bordering the Tsavo Conservation Area. Many are indigenous species – chosen to restore landscapes stripped by drought and human pressure. Trees that belong there: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/n...

Olorien has a technique all her own. While most African elephants pick up food, she scoops it with her trunk – a quirk Head Keeper Benjamin has never seen tire.
Rescued in 2020, she is finding her feet at our Ithumba Reintegration Unit – on her own terms.
Meet her: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o...

This is how you get Kaikai to drink water.
You don't ask her. If you ask, she does an about-turn and leads everyone elsewhere. Keeper Joseph has learned that you race her to the trough instead — then it's her idea.
It works. Sort of.
www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Our resident tomboy turns five today. On graduation day in June 2025, Muwingu wasted no time coating herself in Ithumba's red Tsavo soil from head to toe. Much of her story remains a mystery. But we know she is tough. Today she's exactly where she belongs.
Happy birthday. www.swt.bio/muwingu

The milk that keeps Kaikai alive took our founder Dame Daphne Sheldrick decades of trial, loss, and learning to perfect. Kaikai arrived at Kaluku barely weeks old. Every bottle since has been mixed based on what Daphne learned. Every three hours. Around the clock.
www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Fewer than 6,000 black rhinos left on Earth. Tytan is one of them.
He came to us as an orphan. For now, he is a pampered baby who lies on his back at the mud bath while his Keeper coats him in mud. His best friend is a zebra named Notty.
One day he will roam wild.
www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Pips lost her mother to lions in September 2025. A few days old. Giraffes are skittish and not inclined to trust people quickly. Pips was all of that. Then she decided Keeper Peter was probably safe. Now he has to leave his coat behind when he runs errands.
www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Milk feeds every three hours. Keepers sleeping beside them. First mud baths. Years of patient, round-the-clock care — until the day they're ready to take their first steps back toward the wild.

None of it happens without donors like you.

Adopt: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

In 2012, Panda was found alone and emaciated on Mgeno Ranch, her mother almost certainly lost to poaching. In December 2025, she came home for the holidays — and brought her daughter with her. Her name is Panya. "Mouse" in Swahili. It suits her.
www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Muridjo has a lot to say — and she makes sure everyone hears it. Most of her rumbles and trumpets are reserved for any orphan who dares get too close to her beloved Kipekee. Elephants communicate in ways we're only beginning to understand. Find out more: helloinelephant.com

Four orphans at Kaluku. Mwinzi: comatose in the Amboseli dust, revived in an hour. Natibu: pulled from a pipeline manhole, now a mud wallow enthusiast. Korbessa: fell into a well at two days old, woke up and took over. Toto: her big brother, on her terms.
Adopt: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Happy third birthday, Olomunyak — 'the lucky one' in Maa, named by the rangers who guarded him his first night.
He appears to have been practising blowing out birthday candles by blowing bubbles in the water. We have no notes.
www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Ten years ago, a snared bull limped into our lives. We nicknamed him Lazarus. After treatment by our Sky Vets, he came to see Ithumba as a safe place — and kept coming back. Earlier this week, he returned standing strong on all four feet. www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

One day, Muridjo was browsing with her back leg balanced against a tree root. Kipekee toddled by and decided it was a throne made just for her. She rested her bottom against it. Muridjo stood stock still until Kipekee moved on.

Hands up if you're one of Kipekee's foster parents.

Under all that mud is an elephant — Kipekee, our Nursery darling. Mud bath with a three-nanny entourage, then straight to the dust bath: flopping onto her side while a Keeper shovels soil along her back. A hard life.

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Since her rescue, Kaikai's life has revolved around two things: her Keepers and having fun like her life depends on it. When orphans grieve, they withdraw from life and can give up entirely. But when they start to play? We know they are ready to survive and live: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Three rescues. Three corners of Kenya. One unit. Kerrio, Kamili, and Latika met at our Nairobi Nursery and have barely been apart since. At Umani, the Keepers call them the Nairobi girls — Kerrio leads, Latika follows, Kamili steps forward when it matters.

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Dust bathing is a vital part of elephant life. Mushuru has turned it into an art form. Natibu offers enthusiasm over technique, sending dust flying everywhere. And then there's Kaikai who tasked Keeper Joseph to do the work!
Meet Kaikai: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Remember Toto – the calf too nervous for mud baths? He's now splashing about and throwing his trunk around like he owns the place. Even better: he was rescued by wild elephants who found him alone and brought him straight to our stockades.

sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o...

Bedtime for Tytan! Our little black rhino has worn himself out – tearing about the forest and enjoying dust baths with best friend Notty. When a twig snapped underfoot recently, he charged about in alarm before realising his mistake. Braver by the day.

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...

Found alone and emaciated in 2012, Panda was raised at Voi after losing her mother to poaching. This December, she came home for the holidays – and brought her daughter Panya ("mouse" in Swahili) with her.

sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/n...

After her rescue, it took weeks for Alia to emerge from her shell. Starved and frightened, she kept her distance – watching the Keepers, but not yet ready to trust.

Then one morning, Keeper Peter turned to find her standing right beside him, trunk raised in greeting: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.o...