Rise Up This Mornin
Smile With The Risin 🌞

Here at the Sheldrick Trust Ithumba unit, Tsavo East National Park, many ex-orphans return daily to interact with the new orphans and greet their old keepers at the daily mud bath.

Their relationship with the keepers and orphans goes beyond words. Trust is built through years of nurturing and companionship, and it is evident in the way they move together, almost as if they are speaking a language only they understand. Here is Challa coming over to greet Emanuel his old keeper.

For those of you who wanted to know more about Challa an ex-orphan of the Sheldrick Trust "On the 16th November 2005, an S.O.S. from our Ziwani De-Snaring Team Leader operating in Tsavo West National Park, that he had received a report the day before that a young elephant had been in amongst a herd of Cattle for the past eight days. The De-Snaring Team located the elephant at 110 am, still in amongst the herd of cattle, at a place called “Challa” (which means “Source of the Volcanic River”). At the request of the herdsmen who had reported his presence, the elephant orphan has been named “Challa”. In attendance with “Challa” throughout the night, was one of our longest-serving Keepers, who has a mysterious magic when it comes to handling any elephant. Sure enough, he worked his magic overnight, and first thing in the morning Daphne emerged to find the little elephant pressed close to him, having taken his bottles of weak milk formula during the night, and all the other elephants at the door of his Stockade to welcome and greet him! It was a very touching scene.

Challa is now 19 years old a happy and healthy ex-orphan living in the area surrounding Ithumba Hill where he was successfully reintegrated into the wild from the stockades there." ~ Sheldrick Trust