Makireti's Story

This female calf of approximately 1 year old was spotted at around midday on the 7th July 2010 by a Community Game Scout by the name of Isaac Mutua who was on a routine patrol on the Muhoho Farm owned by the Kenyatta family near Ziwani abutting Tsavo West National Park. The young elephant was alone and wandering aimlessly with no wild herds in the area, its emaciated condition indicative that it had obviously been orphaned, with no chance of survival being still milk dependent. What happened to its mother is not known, but what is known is that there is a great deal of human-wildlife conflict in that area, as well as both ivory and bushmeat poaching, with elephants now being targeted by those seeking to profiteer from the sale of their tusks. Sadly, many of the communities abutting Tsavo are agricultural based rather than pastoral and as such definitely not ele-friendly. It is not unusual for orphans found in that particular area to be willfully maimed or killed by being speared, irrespective of size.

Makireti's Story

Mercifully this young calf escaped that fate, her presence instead reported to the officer in charge of the Taveta Out Station, Ms. Constance Mwasho who, in conjunction with the Senior Warden in charge of Tsavo West, Daniel Woodley, alerted the Trust and coordinated the rescue.

As usual, the Trust chartered a Caravan Aircraft, which left Nairobi at around 2 p.m. to airlift the orphan back to the Nairobi Nursery, where she arrived soon after 5 p.m. and was put in the stable next door to that of Kudup. Being still relatively strong but understandably extremely fearful and aggressive, it took three stalwart Keepers to ward off her repeated onslaughts and to set about calming her overnight and getting her to take milk. By morning, they had succeeded, and the calf had taken milk overnight and was desperate for more, but in this respect it is important to proceed cautiously and not to overload the stomach of an emaciated candidate for fear of upsetting it. Such calves are usually too feeble to withstand diarrheoa which, in an elephant, is an extremely life threatening condition.

The name proposed by those whorescued her is Makireti, meaning “one left in the wilderness” in the Taita tribal dialect. We feel this appropriate, and so little Makireti becomes the 16th elephant currently in the Trust’s Nairobi Elephant Nursery.

It only took a day to tame Makireti down sufficiently for her to join the other orphans and she has become very much part of the group, accepted and loved by them all. It seems she has made a special bond with both Kandecha who is also a new arrival himself and Mawenzi, who always has time for all the newcomers.

Adopt Makireti for yourself or as a gift.

Adopt Makireti for yourself or as a gift.

Current Age

15 years old

Gender

Female

Rescued date

7 July 2010

Rescue Location

Tsavo Ecosystem, Tsavo West NP

Date of Birth (approximate)

2 July 2009

Reason Orphaned

Unknown

Age at Rescue

12 months old (approx)

Current Location

Living Wild

Makireti's featured photos

Our digital adoption programme includes the following:

Personalised adoption certificate.

Monthly email update on your orphan and the project.

Monthly watercolour by Angela Sheldrick.

Access to special content; latest Keepers' Diaries, videos and photos

Give Makireti the gift of life by adopting today.

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