Elephants!

We've been back from Nairobi a week as of today but I guess I want to stay in that moment because it always feels nicer to be on vacation and away from the realities of home.

When we were at the MK Father's House those last few days last week we were so fortunate to meet up again with Fr. Mike Basanno. You might remember Mike from last year's camping trip. He was working at a home for abandoned and disabled people but recently he moved to South Sudan to continue his ministry there. Mike was in Nairobi last week to secure some of his visa paperwork and we couldn't believe our luck at being able to catch up again!


This guy's only a few months old.

Mike talked us into taking some time out of our retreat to see the beauty of the area and what a great idea it was! We went to see BABY ELEPHANTS! How much cooler can you get than that? He had visited the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust once before and said it was not to be missed. As always, Mike was right. Check out these little cuties!






Yep, that's sunscreen on his baby elephant ears. The African sun is too harsh for even these guys!

This place was great. Located on the outskirts of the wildlife park bordering Nairobi, they rescue abandoned or hurt baby elephants, up to 4 years of age, who are found in the park. Some of their mothers have been killed by poachers, some have fallen into wells, others are dying from lack of water. They bring them into their orphanage, nurse them back to health, and then reintroduce them into the wild. They allow visitors only for 1 hour a day because they don't want the elephants to get used to human interaction.


They were pretty aggressive, even for babies. They eat every 3 hours and are fed plant based human baby food formula.


After eating they liked to roll around in the mud. It was very messy and quite rough.


A few of them approached us so we could pet them. Of course, they were covered in mud, so we got all sticky. But it was still cool!

It was a great way to spend the morning and if we had the money, I'd have totally fostered one of these guys. If you've got an extra 50 bucks, you might think about doing it. Or, when you come visit us in TZ we could all take a trip to Nairobi and go together to see them. Totally worth it!