Sweet Sally's Story

On a tiny Ranch near Nanyuki called “Sweetwaters” a baby elephant was born in February 2001. She and her mother were amongst others moved to Meru National Park because their home Sweet Waters ranch was obviously too small an environment for them, and every time they stepped off the ranch they were in direct conflict with human settlement and cultivation. Along with 52 other elephants it was decided by The Kenya Wildlife Services to relocate this group to Meru National Park. This was a successful mission, but for Sweet Sally’s mother who made the long journey with her calf the journey and new environment proved too much for her and she was so traumatized on arrival that she just ran and ran, leaving the calf behind. Failure to locate her meant that the calf had to be treated as an orphan, and on the 25th July 2001 she was flown to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s Elephant Nursery in Nairobi National Park, there to join three other infant elephant orphans and be nurtured and reared through the fragile first year of infancy. She is called ‘Sally’ to honour the memory of brave Sally Dunne, who died of cancer May 2001, and ‘Sweet’ to identify her origin.