This year, Reteti Elephant Sanctuary marked ten years of caring for Samburu’s most vulnerable orphans.
Among those celebrating was Mary Brau, a guest at Saruni Samburu, who joined the sanctuary’s anniversary celebrations during her stay and adopted a baby elephant named Kimani.
“It’s the best feeling ever,” Mary told us. “To celebrate my anniversary in this place, surrounded by this community and these elephants, and to leave knowing I’m part of Kimani’s story now is something I don’t have words for and what that means to me.”
Reteti was established in 2016 after Samburu elders noticed how many elephants were being lost to drought, wells, human-wildlife conflict, poaching and other natural causes. What began as a response to that loss has become East Africa’s first community-owned elephant sanctuary, entirely run and staffed by the Samburu people.
Today, 130 Samburu staff work as elephant caretakers, and 1,250 Samburu women supply the goat milk that sustains the youngest orphans; a practice that began after 2019, when the sanctuary moved away from imported formula and turned to the community instead.
“When we started, we simply wanted to give these calves a chance to survive,” says Mandela, a guide at Reteti. “Ten years on, we’ve given many of them a chance to go back to the wild.”
Reteti currently cares for 48 elephants, with 23 already released back into the wild. Since opening, the sanctuary has reunited more than 70 calves with their wild families. Orphans are rehabilitated for up to seven years, weaned from around six, and, where possible, released alongside the same-age companions who became their family inside the sanctuary. Every elephant is tagged before release, allowing the team to follow their journey after they’ve returned to the wild.
Not every story at Reteti is a simple one. Long’uro, whose Samburu name means “something cut short,” fell into a well as a one-month-old calf and lost most of her trunk and an eye before she was rescued. She has since learned to feed by kneeling to reach the ground with what remains of her trunk, and caretakers have come to know her as the sanctuary’s miracle survivor.
Nearby is Lomunyak, “lucky boy” in Samburu, who survived a crocodile attack as a calf. The two share a bond forged by what they’ve each overcome: Lomunyak now helps cut tree branches for Long’uro, one of the small daily kindnesses that pass between elephants at Reteti.
Beyond elephants, Reteti now cares for orphaned giraffes, gerenuk, eland, zebra and oryx, at the community’s own request after witnessing the program’s success. The sanctuary relies on donations, adoptions and conservation fees to continue its work.
For Mary, and for every guest who visits Reteti during a stay with us, adoption is a small but lasting way to stay connected to Samburu after journeying home.
Our guests staying at Saruni Samburu, Basecamp Samburu and Saruni Rhino can arrange a visit to Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, including the opportunity to adopt an orphaned elephant of their own.
