The main highlight of Ithumba, located in the beautiful and remote Tsavo East, is of course the orphaned elephants. To date David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) has successfully hand-raised over 150 infant elephants. As a result, it has accomplished its long-term conservation priority by effectively reintegrating orphans back into the wild herds of Tsavo through it’s Voi and Ithumba units, claiming many healthy wild-born calves from former-orphaned elephants raised in their care.
Donors to DSWT can stay close by in the exclusive properties and visit the Ithumba enclosure twice a day. You can therefore enjoy watching the midday mud bath, the orphan and wild elephant interaction and feeding of the incredible orphans. If you have any affinity with elephants Ithumba needs to be on your bucket list, as it is the only place where you can interact with elephants in the wild.
As you are lead towards the enclosure, it is hard to describe the experience of going from the emptiness and complete silence of your surroundings one minute to the sound of trumpeting the next, with a herd of elephants rapidly coming straight towards you ravenous for their morning milk feed. And then there are the mud baths, it’s like watching kids (very large kids!) go crazy in a sand box, the only word to describe the scene unfolding before your eyes is incredible.
Guests days at Ithumba are nothing short of amazing. The days are spent observing the older elephants and their wild elephant companions, feeding them milk, playing with their babies and physically getting pushed around, which is exactly what people visit Ithumba for.
To find out more about the work of DSWT and how you can get involved you can visit our conservation page.
Scroll over the images below to find out more about the Ithumba elephants in our brochure and blogs……..
