King Charles III and Queen Camilla recently completed a four day state visit to Kenya, the King’s first tour to a Commonwealth Country as Monarch. The highlight of their trip undoubtedly was the afternoon they spent at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) (5) Nursery in Nairobi surrounded by orphaned elephants, and one little blue-blanketed baby rhino named Raha,

 

Established in 1977 as The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust by the late Dame Daphne Sheldrick the elephant orphanage continues under the guidance of Daphne’s daughter, Angela Sheldrick who hosted the British Monarch and the new Queen.

 

 

 

 

Acknowledging a group of ‘the larger more restless ones’ Queen Camilla quipped, ‘Is that the naughty corner’ (for elephants)! (3) 

 

 

 

The royals were delighted by each little elephant vying for their attention whether rolling in the mud or rollicking in the viewing area made especially for guests of the elephants.

 

 

Bottles and Bonding

Having demonstrated a previous fondness for elephants (the former Duchess of Cornwall, and the former Prince of Wales, have served as Joint Presidents of the charity Elephant Family (8) for a number of years. (6) ) Queen Camilla instantly took to a bottle feeding session with a baby elephant named Mzinga. For that moment they both remained totally enthralled.

 

 

 

At the end of the day the elephants were escorted back to their stables (by their Keepers) seemingly oblivious to the fact of whose presence they had just been in. Yet the saying goes, “An Elephant Never Forgets!”

 

 

“To date the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has successfully raised 316 orphan elephants and hand-raised 17 rhinos.” (3)

Support Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (4)  

 

 

Images: full copyright belongs to Uzalendo News YT CH video “King Charles and Queen Camilla Continue Their Visit in Kenya”(2)

 

 

Sources: 

(1) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/news/updates/their-majesties-visit

(2)  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=queen+camilla+visits+kenya+sheldrick+wildlife+trust+Creative+Commons

(3) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12697985/Queen-Camilla-feeds-orphaned-baby-elephant-specialist-wildlife-centre-Nairobi-second-day-state-visit-Kenya.html

(4) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/donate

(5) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/

(6) https://web.archive.org/web/20150511054640/http://www.elephantfamily.org/who-we-are/about-us/royal-patronage

(7) https://twitter.com/ESHelephants

(8) https://elephant-family.org/

 

 

 

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