Elephant Havens is Growing

Elephant Havens' primary mission is bittersweet at the core. A baby without its mother and family is doomed in the wild, and Elephant Havens was created to give these babies a fighting chance. Just this month the Botswana charity rescued three young orphaned elephants: Tsala (meaning friend), Makoba (meaning Knob Thorn Acacia Tree) and Neo (meaning Gift). All are thriving and mixing into the existing herd of seven.

Each of the babies has a distinct personality. Tsala is the most vocal elephant and when his bottle of milk is presented, he screams with joy. Makoba, only six months old, is the smallest. She was injured by a leopard and found in the soft release area where seven of the herd live en route to their permanent release. Neo has the tusks of an older baby and was found starving in a harsh village environment in the Okavango Panhandle.

Feeding at Elephant Havens has become an event to behold. The elephants rush in as the handlers spread out to field the incoming charge of little ones, with flapping ears, swinging trunks and lots of dust. 

With so many newcomers, additional staff has been hired, as two handlers per elephant are needed to cover the night and day shifts. Three of the handlers on the team are women and they all hail from the local communities. Additional housing has also been built and elephant habitat increased. A generous donation match has allowed an expansion that triples the size of the property. As a result, there are now options to rotate the herd through various parts of the property and accommodate twice as many babies!

If you are interested in visiting Elephant Havens as part of a safari to Botswana please contact us for further information (please note that it requires a night in Maun). To make a donation to save the baby elephants please go to https://elephanthavens.org/donate/.