Elephant Orphanage Half-Day Tour from Nairobi
Description
Visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on a half-day tour of a Nairobi elephant orphanage that’s home to adorable baby elephants that have been rescued by conservationists. Unlike some tour options that feature a long list of stops, the focus is on the elephant orphanage alone, so you’ll have even more time to watch the baby elephants bottle feed and play with their keepers
Tour Options
Itinerary
The tour starts by picking you from your Hotel/Home within Nairobi 9:30AM. We will drive you to David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust have a walk through the little center from 11am - 12pm in an open space, with a rope fence around it. The youngest elephants come trotting out of the bush to greet their keepers who stand at the ready with giant bottles of milk. For the next 10-15 minutes you can watch each little one slurp and gargle their milk. When they're done, there's water to play with and keepers to nudge and get hugs from. While you get to watch them play and take photos. You find out how old they were when they arrived at the orphanage, where they were rescued from, and what got them into trouble. The most common reasons for getting orphaned being: mother's poached, falling into wells, and human/wildlife conflict. Once the youngest are all fed, they are led back into the bush, and it's the turn of the 2-3 year olds. Some of them can feed themselves, and some are still fed by their keepers. It's very cute to watch them hold their giant milk bottles in their trunks and close their eyes with joy as they make quick work of several gallons of milk.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pick up available at Airbnb and Private Apartments
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Pay Extra USD85 per adult, USD45 per child
Reviews(14)
The Elephant Orphanage Half-Day Tour from Nairobi was an unforgettable experience and one of the highlights of my visit to Kenya. The tour was well organized, with convenient hotel pickup and a knowledgeable guide who shared interesting information throughout the journey. Seeing the rescued baby elephants up close was truly heartwarming. Learning about their individual stories, the conservation efforts behind their rescue, and watching them play and feed was both educational and inspiring. The staff were passionate and dedicated, making the experience even more meaningful. The tour is perfect for travelers with limited time, as it offers a unique wildlife encounter without requiring a full-day commitment. I highly recommend this excursion to families, animal lovers, and anyone interested in wildlife conservation. It was a memorable, rewarding, and worthwhile experience that I would gladly do again. Thank you to the team for this amazing tour and will highly recommend this tour to my friends.
I have to say althoigh ive visited before a few years back this is still magical for me, without the dedication of the Sheldrick trust all these baby elephants and rhinos would just die the keepers show how much they love their jobs admission to sheldrick is very reasonable the ideal scenario for a visit is to combine with a trip to the Nairobi national park as without it seems steep to pay park entrance fee and not explore , if you are able adopt one it will stay with you forever
Stephen pointed out interesting landmarks along the drive to orphanage and the sanctuary. He was very accommodating and flexible, which allowed us to make the most of our day. It was a lovely day with a great guide.
Great work done by the team in this place. It requires lots of patience to keep up with good work here. The amazing part is a soon as the elephants become independent they are send back to the wild. Well done and keep doing a good job.
We were very upset that we arrived too late for the baby elephant feeding. We were taken to a Maasai gift shop first instead of going directly to the sanctuary so we had a good view. It was the experience we paid for and to miss the best part was a huge disappointment.
Not only do you get to learn about how the elephants are rescued, rehabilitated, and cared for, you get to pet them! They walk up to the fence to get pets, and you can discern the individual personalities of each elephant. One tried to eat my foot! lol. It was a moving experience to be able to engage with these majestic creatures up close and personally. Plus your entry fees help support the mission. Well worth it!
Really appreciate the work being done by the people here. The young elephants are really well looked after and are happy. The hour spent with them is really fulfilling.
The pickup and drop off was seamless and we had the best driver, John, who was so helpful and attentive! The elephants were also amazing to see.
Elephants were so adorable and funny, tour guide and driver were both amazing and provided valuable information about not only Nirobi but all of Kenya!
We loved seeing the orphaned elephants and rhino. The driver was really good and I would definitely go again. We also went to a bead factory and a shop with beautiful wood carvings
