Furahia siku ya kuzaliwa, Bronwyn!

The kids were very excited when they realized that most of us (everyone except Saeryn, in fact) will celebrate a birthday in Africa.  We sometimes try to plan a special event or family outing to celebrate a birthday, so are thrilled and thankful to have some new and exciting opportunities to do that here in Kenya together!

To celebrate Bronwyn’s birthday, we went to the elephant orphanage  near our home. There are currently 24 elephants being cared for here, and we were able to see 20 of them.  The other 4 are very new to the facility, and not ready for visitors.  Most of these babies lost their mothers, and therefore their entire herd & family, due to poaching. It is very important to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to have Kenyan keepers and managers, in order to promote ownership of the elephants, and spread understanding of the need for their protection.  Some of these keepers will care for one elephant for up to 10 years until they are successfully integrated into a new herd!  Each elephant is named, in correlation to where they were rescued, and we heard their different stories, and some about their unique personalities and traits, which we could even see as we watched them interact with keepers and each other.

We loved watching the baby elephants (aged 5 months to 2 years) being fed by their keepers – and laughed at how some of the bigger ones could hold their own bottles!

It was a lot of fun to get up close and personal with the elephants.

It definitely was a birthday to remember. We’re told the elephants won’t forget either!