Toto’s Story: The Remarkable Rescue of a Baby Elephant

At Micato, we’re proud to support the conservation efforts of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an extraordinary foundation devoted to rescuing orphaned and injured African species—especially young elephants who have lost their mothers to poaching.

Over the past few decades, dedicated Trust staffers have raised and rehabilitated hundreds of elephants, and successfully released them back into the wild. And since, during that time, we have brought countless African Safari travellers to visit the foundation’s main nursery and contribute to its efforts, we take personal satisfaction in each one of these rescues.

Each elephant’s rescue story is special to Micato. But in honour of World Elephant Day (August 12), we’d like to share one that is especially meaningful to us—about an infant orphaned ellie named Toto.

Toto was first discovered in April of 2022 in Ithumba, a northern section of Kenya’s Tsavo National Park. Here, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has long operated one of its reintegration units, where elephants who have been nursed to healthy young adulthood can transition back to living in the wild. Even once they have joined wild elephant herds and moved on, though, it’s not uncommon for rehabbed ellies to visit this area—sometimes bringing injured friends or their own babies with them.

This is how Toto came to the attention of Trust staffers. One afternoon, a group of female former orphans arrived at the Ithumba camp with a tiny baby in tow. The calf was just days old, clearly undernourished and very weak. None of the adult elephants with him were his mother, so staffers surmised that they must have found him alone and in distress, and brought him to the place where they knew he could be helped.

Immediately, Trust team members sprang into action, dispatching a helicopter to pick up the ailing calf and deliver him to the foundation’s Kaluku Neonate Nursery. By the end of the same day he was found, he was safely bedded down in a warm stable, and assigned two dedicated carers, Joseph and Sammy, to bottle-feed him warm milk and attend to him around the clock. He was also given his name, Toto—a play on mtoto, Swahili for “baby.”

Toto’s first months at Kaluku were challenging—especially during teething, a phase typically characterized by health issues for elephants raised in captivity. But Joseph and Sammy, who were by his side throughout, found that diminutive, fuzzy Toto had an outsized fighting spirit. As he matured, they also learned some of his endearing personal quirks, like his penchant for soccer (he will kick anything that rolls his way), and his appreciation for country music (which Joseph plays for him from a small radio).

After celebrating his first birthday, Toto began to socialize with the other orphans at Kaluku. At first, he was shy, and often sneaked away to find Joseph while the rest of the elephants played together in their mud wallow. Soon enough though, he met a new best friend, Natibu, and together the pair exuberantly joined the group mud baths.

Since then, Toto has continued to grow and thrive at Kaluku. Though two years old now, he will likely stay at the Neonate Nursery for some time; raising a healthy young elephant is a slow process. Eventually, though, he will be ready to move to one of the Trust’s reintegration units, perhaps even the one in Ithumba where he first came into the foundation’s care. From there, he’ll get his first glimpse of a tantalizing future in the wild—one where he’ll perhaps father his own children someday.

We hope you’ll share our delight in Toto’s story, whose highlights are captured in the short film above. We also hope that, as you plan your next safari itinerary, you’ll consider a stop in Nairobi, where you can visit the main nursery of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust—and see some of the dozens of orphan elephants whose lives it has saved. Despite the tragedies that brought them here, watching these joyful youngsters play-wrestling in the mud, spraying one another with their trunks, and getting bottle-fed by their tireless carers is a profoundly uplifting experience.

To learn more about Micato’s history with the Trust, or to add a nursery visit to your East African safari, request a Micato Safaris brochure or Schedule a Consultation with one of our Safari Experts.