A Lifetime Experience - By Eashan Dutta

A few years ago I went to Kenya with my family. There we went to many national parks & safaris and saw many animals. I was very excited about the whole experience but the place I was most excited to see was the ‘David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’.

 

It is a rehabilitation program in Kenya dedicated to the rescue of orphan elephants. It was founded in 1977 by D.D Sheldrick.

 

We went there early the morning at around 6:00am. There were many people waiting to enter so we too stood in line with them. I was very eager to see the baby elephant. Finally the time had come when the baby elephants were brought in front of us. There were six baby elephants of ages 2 to 5 years. Their mother was killed in the forest by poachers at a different time and place. Thus, these elephants were brought there until they were old enough and could be sent to a conservation area. The caretakers fed them milk and gave them green leaves to eat. I saw them playing with each other.

 

I was so happy to see them.  We also adopted a baby elephant for a year. We paid a certain amount with which the baby elephant would be taken care of. It is the most satisfying thing that I have done so far!