Surrounded by baby elephants in Kenya, including one ‘troublemaker’

Senior correspondent Jeffrey Brown writes from Nairobi National Park, where he is reporting on elephants endangered by the rise in poaching.

Brown is in Kenya to report on the Storymoja Festival, a week-long celebration of storytelling. The festival comes one year after the attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, in which Ghanaian poet and author Kofi Awoonor died. Awoonor was a speaker at least year’s festival.


Jeffrey Brown traveled to Kenya as part of a reporting trip that includes a visit to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Photo by Molly Raskin

Jeffrey Brown traveled to Kenya as part of a reporting trip that includes a visit to a “haven for elephants.” Photo by Molly Raskin

A baby elephant plays with a ranger at David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi National Park. Photo by Molly Raskin

A baby elephant plays with a ranger at David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi National Park. Photo by Molly Raskin

Well, this is unusual. I am standing in the middle of a dozen or so elephants, one running his trunk up my chest toward my face, another giving me a bump in the rear end. One does not do this with adult elephants in the wild, but these are children, babies in some cases, age 3 months to 3 years, orphans who’ve been brought from all over Kenya to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi National Park.

Sadly, the number of orphan elephants is rising amid the rise in poaching: adult elephants killed for their valuable tusks, their children left behind. And ranger Edwin Lusichi tells me he sees the grieving and sadness in these extremely social and family-oriented animals when they first arrive here. He points them out one by one, by name and personality: this one shy, that one — watch out! — a troublemaker who will take every opportunity to make his presence known. And there, a baby has attached himself to a slightly older new “sister.” I ask ranger Lusichi if he has a favorite. No, he says, like a proud and loving parent, I cannot choose among my babies.

Later we visit Cynthia Moss, one of the world’s leading elephant researchers and head of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project. She tells us of their complex communication systems and behavior. “They are smart,” she says, “very smart. But they are not smart enough to avoid being killed by AK-47s.”

Our cameraman Julius fends off a curious elephant. Photo by Molly Raskin

Our cameraman Julius fends off a curious elephant. Photo by Molly Raskin

Tuesday we head south to Amboseli National Park to spend a day with a group trying to stop the poachers from their deadly work.

We're not going anywhere.

Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on!