Elephant bath time

It’s Elephant bath time at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi. There’s excitement in the small, quiet crowd as a herd of Elephants arrives through the bushes.

The presenter is excellent, detailing the lives of the Elephants they have rescued and their daily routine, together with their eventual path to independence and freedom within the Nairobi National Park

Under a tree are the milk bottles awaiting the small Elephants who shouldn’t be without their mother’s milk at their age. Orphans are the Trust’s speciality.

Many young Elephants are clever enough to hold their own bottles, but some need a little bit of help, especially when the bottles are full and still heavy.

The crowd are doing what all crowds do now, turning their back on the action and taking a selfie – this time a selfie-with-Elephants.

If you don’t have a selfie, were there even Elephants?

Elephants look formidable when a wall of them approaches, even when the Elephants are still relatively small.

There are buckets of water and they clearly enjoy spraying it over themselves.

There’s also a mud wallow which they enjoy even more. They begin siphoning muddy water up with their trunks and then slinging it wildly over their shoulders. I can see it heading my way, and worse, my camera’s way, and I dodge behind my colleague Liz. She gets the full force of filthy mud in her face and I get a tiny drop on my new shirt. I think I got the better deal. I feel slightly guilty for not being gallant enough to throw myself in front of her and save her from a face-full of mud. And then I think I should have dodged better and I would have avoided getting my shirt dirty.

People pay a fortune for facial mud masks and this Elephant has just gifted Liz one for free. I’m not aware that she needs to absorb excess oil, gently exfoliate, or deeply cleanse her pores, or that she’s particularly grateful for the gift.

We received heavy brown mud as a direct hit. This is just water:

It clearly feels great to be covered in cooling mud. I’m not sure the flies which bother the Elephants agree. Neither does Liz.

Then the excitement is over and the Elephants return to the bush to continue their rehabilitation and eventual reintegration into Elephant society.

What a fabulous experience.

I’m looking forward to getting to our tented camp later today. I’m told there’s a bar and restaurant. It’s going to be so tempting to buy Liz a drink and propose a toast, “Here’s mud in your eye”. Maybe I’ll give that one a miss. One direct hit is enough for a day.

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