• Once there were 200,000 jumbos roaming the plains. Now there are only 30,000
Image: GARETH JONES
With a symphony of little trumpets, the baby elephants gleefully ran from the shady forest towards the roped area, where their bottled milk awaited them. Crowds of excited tourists had been patiently waiting for the daily 11am daily feedtime. Now the star performers had seemingly arrived, even though the young elephants seemed unaware of the massive interest in them.
One of the staff then proceeds to tell the story of each elephant, and many are tragically sad, mostly due to the fact that their mothers were killed due to poaching. However, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust serves a very worthwhile purpose in handrearing the orphaned elephants and then ensuring they are translocated to Tsavo East, where they are allowed to mature further before being released into the wild.
Less than 100 years ago, elephants roamed over the Embakasi/Athi/Kapiti plains, and also in the Langata forests and Ngong hills. It should be noted that vast herds of over 500-1,000 elephant used to occur at times, with an estimate of well over 200,000 in the Kenya area at one time. By 1973, the numbers reduced to 170,000. Then by 1989, they reduced to only 16,000...
Today, there are about 30,000. With poaching on the rise again, the battle continues. It is significant that the ivory burning in 1987 happened in the NNP as well. So it is ironic that the Nairobi National Park now symbolises the past tragedy of the death of thousands of elephants, and yet also represents hope for a new life for the many baby orphan elephants.
So even though wild adult elephants no longer roam the plains of what is now the Nairobi National Park, elephants will always be part of it. Next time you have an opportunity, paying a visit to the elephant orphans is always a worthwhile outing. The baby elephants need help in many ways to eventually grow up to be adults, and financial support really helps them.