David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage Half-Day Tour in Nairobi
- 3 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- Guided in English
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
Take a day out of Nairobi's hustle and bustle and head to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Witness Visiting the only Elephant Orphanage within the city of Nairobi meeting some of the largest mammals on earth and learn about their lives and how they survive in the wild. The visit takes place during feeding time viewing is strictly between 11:00 to 12:00
Inclusions
What's included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- Pick up and drop off from your Hotel/accommodation
What's not
- Food and drinks
- Lunch
- Gratuities
- Souvenir photos (available to purchase)
Itinerary
The tour starts by picking you from your Hotel/Home within Nairobi 9:30AM. We will drive you to David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust have a walk through the little center from 11am - 12pm in an open space, with a rope fence around it. The youngest elephants come trotting out of the bush to greet their keepers who stand at the ready with giant bottles of milk. For the next 10-15 minutes you can watch each little one slurp and gargle their milk. When they're done, there's water to play with and keepers to nudge and get hugs from. While you get to watch them play and take photos. You find out how old they were when they arrived at the orphanage, where they were rescued from, and what got them into trouble. The most common reasons for getting orphaned being: mother's poached, falling into wells, and human/wildlife conflict. Once the youngest are all fed, they are led back into the bush, and it's the turn of the 2-3 year olds. Some of them can feed themselves, and some are still fed by their keepers. It's very cute to watch them hold their giant milk bottles in their trunks and close their eyes with joy as they make quick work of several gallons of milk.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Reviews
4.3
- 568
- 43
- 38
- 26
- 17
Ratings come from 92 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.
Showing reviews written in English.
5Rueben was excellent.
It was an amazing tour. Our driver/guide Reuben was excellent—very knowledgeable, friendly, flexible and professional.
3Be prepared for large crowds
While the work of the David Sheldrick Foundation and the Elephant Nursery is important, the hour-long presentation near the feeding corral is essentially an appeal for donations. The day we attended there were nearly 300 people vying to get as close as possible to the fifteen elephants on display. Not at all a ‘behind-the-scenes’ experience.
5David Sheldrick Elephant orphanage experience
Really wonderful experience and my driver was punctual, knowledgeable and courteous. The experience with the orphaned elephants was really special. Highly recommend.
5Best Day ever!!
We had a great experience at the Orphanage today! So many small Animals and all of their Backround, we can really recommend it! But if you‘re lucky to meet the Tour Guide Reuben, then your day will be even more awesome!! We had the best and most fun Time with him <3 Thank you Reuben!
3Great elephant experience but spoilt by national park entry fee.
The cost to get into the National Park is daylight robbery. Otherwise we really enjoyed it. Sam was our driver and he was excellent. Highly recommend him to anyone 👌.
5Definitely Worth a Visit!
My adult children and I visited the orphanage on June 18, 2026. It was quite crowded, but an amazing experience to see. There is an excellent presentation of the history of the facility and the work they do. We were first introduced to Titan a baby black rhino and a baby zebra. Both were adorable. They then brought out the 13 orphaned baby elephants who varied in age. I was impressed with the facility and they had a wonderful gift shop!
Know before you go
- Pickup
- Pickup is included for everyone.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Group size
- Up to 100 travellers
- Operated by
- Gracepatt Safaris
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
How it compares in Maasai Mara National Reserve
- Its from-price is 88% below the median of the 191 experiences we list in Maasai Mara National Reserve.
- It is shorter than most of them.
- By number of reviews it ranks 2 of 191.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Maasai Mara National Reserve
The Maasai Mara is a vast reserve of open grassland in south-west Kenya, famed for its lions, elephants and the great wildebeest migration.
The Maasai Mara National Reserve covers rolling grassland, scattered acacia and river forest in south-west Kenya, and borders the Serengeti in Tanzania. Its name comes from the Maasai people and from mara, a word in their language for spotted, which describes the dotted look of its trees and bushes. The Mara River runs through it, holding hippos and crocodiles, and the Oloololo escarpment marks its western edge.
Top-ranked sights in Maasai Mara National Reserve: Mara River, Mara Triangle.
