The Milgis Trust

As we flew in my Cessna 182 [ small four seater aircraft] into Wilson airport, in Nairobi, this was what I told the tower as I requested landing permission, and that I wanted to come strait in!! The lady in the tower thought she had heard wrong, but eventually when she realised, was very helpful in giving me priority!!…Yes.. sadly another baby elephant has lost its mother and herd, and yesterday we took it down to Daphne Sheldrick… We have not found out exactly the circumstances of how it came about that she got left behind, but what we were told is she fell down one of these dangerous erosion gullies, as per my last blog…Did I put my ‘black’ tongue on it.??. Too sad for words to hear about another elephant found lost and hungry, way down the Milgis Lugga, at a place called Marti Dorop, at 9 am Saturday… We got the message on the radio at 6 pm…and I was told that Lesuuda, one of our scouts was on his way down to pick her up with the KWS team from Latakwen…But no news of how old it was, how big etc.. 7.45 on a very crackly radio, all I could hear was that they had not reached the place yet… So we had to wait till the morning… I spoke to Daphne and Angela at the D.S.W.T. [David Sheldrick wildlife trust] to warn them of the news.. It went down badly!, as literally in the last two days, two other young elephants had been brought in, and they are over whelmed with baby elephants from around the country… But when I suggested we tried to find the herd, Daphne was adamant that it was not a good idea, as it already had been too long, and with the smell of humans on the ely, the herd actually may kill it.. I did not sleep all night, wondering if I was going to beable to get the baby into my aeroplane, and at what stage I was going to have to admit it was too big!! Could Lesuuda judge whether or not it was too big!! It was already a one hour flight from where I was, but hoped at least we could help with the flying…

The next morning, as soon as it was clear enough to communicate [ for some reason its impossible to hear on HF radios at night] We got the message that the very little female, barely a week to ten days old, was at the Milgis runway waiting to be collected… After all the size was no problem..!! When we arrived there was a big crowd at the runway… amazing how many people can ‘come out of the woodwork, in such a remote place!!.. The little Ely was just too sweet, trumpeting with excitement!! adorable! But very hungry… We decided to get her to her new home quick quick!! We put her on a mattress behind the front seats, standing, with two people holding her, put a blanket over her as we started the engine… Not a worry though, and as soon as we took off she fell asleep, and eventually about 10 minutes before we landed she lay down and went into a deep sleep on Lesuudas lap…Did not even wake up on my rather bumpy landing at Wilson airport!… Lesuuda told me that he and her had not slept or eaten all night, and even he was ready to collapse!.. But he still had the energy to go and see where his little friends [ Elephants bond to kindness very quickly] new home would at the DSWT and also to learn more about looking after these ‘minute’ fragile creatures!!…. Angela will give us the rest of the news when she can!!

Lesuuda and his hungry friend on the Milgis runway.. We have learnt not to try to feed these youngsters with cows milk, as this does not agree with their stomachs…only special milk formula which one doesn’t find in the bush! so shes only had water, for the last 24 hours…

It was a bit of a squash in the plane!!