One of the primary reasons why tourists visit Kenya is to find an opportunity to see elephants, the mammals that are considered to be the largest on land. While in the nation, most of our visitors want to see the giant creature without getting out of Nairobi which is the country’s capital city.

Nairobi boasts as the only capital city in the world with a National Park within. That doesn’t mean that the city is so big, but the effort that the country’s authorities have put in place to ensure the survival of wild animals and indigenous trees. The National Park within the city is called the Nairobi National Park under the management of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

While at the Nairobi National Park, you can have a glimpse to four of the five Big Five animals, but you’ll fail to see elephants. However, since 1977, it has been easy to see elephants at the park, thanks to the establishment of David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust that works to reintroduce orphaned and injured elephants back to their natural habit.

More about David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the place to see Elephants in Nairobi

The elephant conservation center is located within Nairobi National Park which is a few minute drive away from the Central Business District of the city. The renowned wildlife enthusiast Dr. Daphne Sheldrick founded the Wildlife Trust in 1977 in memory of her late husband, David William Sheldrick who died in June of the same year.

The location of David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is adjacent to other tourist destination such as Nairobi National Park and the Bomas of Kenya where you can learn the diversity of Kenyan cultures.

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust nurtures orphaned and maimed young elephants until they become old and of sound health before reintroducing them back to the game life. The orphaned elephant cannot survive in the game life where poachers and predatory carnivores are always posing a fatal threat to the young mammals.

Anyone planning to visit David Sheldrick WT should be time conscious because there’s only an hour to interact with the animals having tusks. Time to see the elephants is between 11:00-12:00 noon, the East African time. The ideal time to reach the point should be by 10:30 AM for you to see the young elephants upon their release by their knowledgeable handlers.  In case you’re late, you’ll have to wait for the next day and keep time.

The cost for entry is $7, and indeed you get the value for your money as you’re on course to learn and get close to the animals with trumpets.  As you’re getting closer to the young elephants, you should get ready to be muddy since the elephants will just be arriving from the pools of water where they cool their bodies in the hot Nairobi sun. The chance to see, feed, and play with elephants will be beckoning even though it only lasts for an hour.

Elephants are considered as endangered animals, so there’s a call for people to put a collective effort to prevent the mammoth animals from extinction. The fee for adopting an elephant for a year is $50, but there’s no restriction in the amount you donate to conserve elephants.

Some facts about Elephants including the ones in Nairobi

• An elephant can excrete above more than 1000Kg of poo in a week.
• Elephants can spend up to 18 hours of grazing and eating plants and fruits.
• African elephants have larger ears than their Asian counterparts.
• An elephant can weigh up to 7,500 Kg and can stand 3 meters tall in the sky.
• An elephant’s trunk has around 100,000 muscles and can weigh as high as 400 pounds.
• An elephant has a highly developed brain that’s 3-4 times better than human brains.
• Elephants have good memories of their colleagues that can last even long after another elephant’s death.