Nasalot's Story

A female calf born approximately January 2000; estimated age on arrival 2 - 3 months. "Nasalot" is a poaching orphan, her mother having been poached for her ivory near Nasalot in the Turkana region. There are only very few surviving elephants left in the harsh lava deserts of Turkanaland, and these survivors have had to turn nocturnal due to poaching pressure in an area known for lawlessness, feeding only during the hours of darkness, and in hiding in thorn thickets by day. We had great difficulty reversing Nasalot's sleeping pattern, for she wanted to sleep during the hours of daylight, and was extremely restless all night, pacing around the stable, and refusing to settle, which left her Keepers' exhausted by the morning! This was exacerbated by deep grieving for her lost family, whom she remembered clearly at her age, so psychological depression and lack of sleep took a heavy toll of her health in the beginning.She did well in the Nursery and was moved to the Ithumba Unit in Tsavo East in 2004. She is a beautiful elephant who roams with Yatta's ex-orphan herd, and in 2017 gave birth to her first born wild calf, a little bull called Nusu.