The following is information on the Elephant Orphan named: DIKA  (foster now)

Latest Updates on DIKA:

• 6/5/2009 - Natumi returns and the return of other Orphans in need of Help
• 2/12/2008 - Edo Returns
• 7/15/2007 - Ndume visits again after a long absence
• 5/6/2007 - Female Orphans and their Suitors
• 5/22/2006 - Dika
• 1/10/2005 - A visit from one of our 'Big Boys' Edo, Echo's nephew.
• 4/20/2004 - The reapprearance of Dika

View to Location map for DIKA (opens a new window)

Most Recent Keeper's Diary Entry: (view all the latest entries for DIKA)

3/28/2007 - Natumi’s unit left the Stockades with the babies in the morning, having arrived early amidst showers to take them out. Because it was a cool morning, there was no mudbath at noon. Instead Mukwaju dug up piles of soil, and Edie, Morani and Ilingwezi copied him, putting chunks of earth into their mouths. Uaso and his wild friend (the Bull who had been with Dika) then turned up. The wild friend engaged Laikipia in a pushing match in the shallows and later he and Uaso left the orphans, heading towards the northern side of Mazinga Hill.

The Two Latest Photos of DIKA: (view gallery of pictures for DIKA)

Dika May 2004 photo taken on 5/22/2004	Dika in the waterhole with all the orphans photo taken on 5/22/2004

ORPHAN PROFILE FOR: DIKA (foster now)

Zoom / Enlarge This elephant was orphaned whilst his family were migrating from Tsavo West National Park to Tsavo East in March 1988, a journey that involved moving through the Taita Hills Sanctuary, and exposure to human presence on private ranchlands. During this process, the herd ran into a hail of gunfire from armed Somali poachers, who at that period of time, were involved in perpetrating the wholesale slaughter of elephants for their Ivory, an elephant holocaust that reduced the Tsavo ecosystem’s elephant population from 45,000 (utilizing a home range double the size of the Park, i.e. 16,000 square miles) to just 5 – 6,000 terrified and traumatised survivors. This terrible tragedy that overtook the elephants during 3 decades of rampant and uncontrolled poaching, was mirrored in the demeanor of the calf we named Dika. He became an orphan when just 3 months old, and arrived in the Nairobi Nursery more like a porcupine than an elephant, his skin pierced by countless protruding long Acacia thorns. This was indicative of the fact that the herd had been stampeded through an Acacia thicket, and he had obviously tried to follow his mother through this thorny barrier. She lay dead within this thicket, one of several elephants from that herd that died in a hail of bullets on that fateful day that left Dika an orphan.    Dika came to us in such deep depression and grieving for his lost mother and elephant family that he stood, lifeless, with watery tear-filled eyes for four long months in the Nairobi Nursery. Day by day, the Keepers gently extracted the thorns from his skin, and his feet, and so utterly devastated was he, that he seemed impervious to the pain. Dejectedly he stood detached and apart from the other elephants, with downcast weeping eyes, so bereft that we began to wonder whether, in fact, he was not brain damaged! Very gradually, however, he began to heal psychologcially, and a small sparkle came back into his soft brown eyes shaded by long lashes. The day he actually joined the others in playing and taking an interest in his new surroundings, was cause for a huge and happy celebration within our Nairobi Nursery! Slowly, his personality began to shine through, and he became transformed into a wonderful and very special little elephant, gentle and very caring of his peers, and extremely affectionate towards his carers. It was Dika who was responsible for persuading another orphan, Edo from Amboseli, to make the effort to even try to live, for when Edo arrived in the Nursery, aged 6 months, and malnourished having lost his mother, he simply lay down and wanted to die. We brought Dika and the other Nursery elephants to where the newcomer was lying and Dika immediately went up to him, gently fondling him with his trunk, and rumbling an elephant greeting. We then gave Dika a bottle of milk, which he accepted with relish, touching his Keeper’s face lovingly with the tip of his trunk as he downed it. Then he was offered a second bottle, and we could actually see some interest creeping into Edo’s lifeless eyes. Having finished the milk, Dika again focused on Edo, nudging him with a foot and urging him to try and stand. With the help of the Keepers, Edo managed to get up, and taking his queue from Dika, immediately downed several bottles of milk. That day, Edo joined the other elephants at the mudbath, pressed close to Dika, and because the Amboseli elephants have never been subjected to gunfire poaching, he had no fear of the human spectators that surrounded them. (The Amboseli elephants have been studied for the past 28 years, so they are habituated to human spectators).    Today, with the benefit of 18 years of hindsight, Daphne Sheldrick can honestly say that Dika is one of the nicest elephant characters the Trust has ever had the privilege of knowing. He showed us how deeply elephants mourn their lost loved ones, and for how long, and it was he that showed us how important the input of the other Nursery inmates is in persuading a newcomer to live. It was also Dika that showed us that elephants really do shed tears. Having safely reached the age of 2 years, he was transferred to Tsavo along with other Nursery inmates of the same age, and there he was embraced by the famous elephant Matriarch, “Eleanor” to begin the gradual process of reintegration back into the elephant community that yielded him in the first place. We often wonder whether in the immensity of Tsavo Dika has met survivors from his original elephant family; perhaps cousins, Aunts and even older siblings. As he grew older, as is the way of young elephant males, he chose to spend time away from Eleanor’s unit in the company of his wild companions. However, Dika has always kept in regular touch, turning up unexpectedly at odd intervals whenever he happens to be in the area. One day, when 15 years old, he arrived at the Elephant Stockades trailing a wire snare firmly attached to one back leg. He stood stock still, lifting the wounded leg so that the Keepers could remove the wire snare which was digging into his flesh, never flinching, but knowing that it had to be done. On this occasion, he also had an abscess on the side of his face, which needed attention and because it was beyond easy reach, a Keeper had to stand on a drum beside him to syringe out the wound. Yet again, this wonderful elephant subjected himself quietly to being assisted. Today, in 2005, Dika is an impressive bull of 17, exactly one year younger than his orphan peers, Taru and Olmeg. Edo still retains a great fondness for him, and often travels with him. Sometimes, he turns up with either Edo or one of the other “Big Boys”, and at other times, he comes alone. He carries impressive ivory, even at 17, and he is as gentle and trusting as ever, but even as a teenager, walks tall, with the dignified stance of dominance. The Trust is very proud to have successfully, saved, reared and returned this elephant to his “people”, and rewarded by his enduring courtesy and love

Please see the resources above for more information on DIKA

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