Nyika’s mother, Naserian, is an orphan we rescued, raised, and re-wilded. We haven’t seen her since July, when she was still heavily pregnant, so that means she’s back to share her growing family with us. As you can see, her firstborn, Njema (left), is taking her new role as protective big sister very seriously!
12th May 2024, in the late afternoon, we received a message from Save the Elephants in Samburu National Reserve alerting us to the fact that what was obviously an orphaned elephant calf had been seen trailing some wild herds, and suffering continuous rejection by them.
The calf was estimated to be between 4 and 6 months old and, we were told, was in the process of being captured.
It had been seen trying to cross the Uaso Nyiro river along with wild elephants, but was constantly pushed under water by one herd member.
When the rescue plane landed in Samburu, the calf had not yet been able to be captured and was still trailing wild herds, of which there were many in the area.
Furthermore, another BBC Film crew had been filming the rejection of this orphan by the wild elephants, (something that puzzles us about the Samburu elephants since those of Tsavo seem bent on actually hijacking rather than rejecting calves, as is illustrated by the story of orphan “Irima”!).
Following frantic phone negotiations with the Charter Company, it was agreed that the plane and the Rescue Team could overnight in Samburu as best they could, and now that a Vet was in-situ, an attempt would be made to capture the calf during the night.
It was feared that were it left overnight, it may not survive the hyenas.