On 1st May 2025, just before the 11 o’clock milk feed, Sidai, Silas, Sid, Wema, Ishanga, and Siku arrived at the Ithumba stockades. Half a minute later, Sunyei arrived — followed by a tiny baby girl! This is her third daughter, following in the footsteps of Siku (born 2017) and Saba (born 2021).

The group stayed for just five minutes before heading to the mud bath. The purpose of the brief visit was clearly just to debut their newest addition with their human-elephant family, making sure we were all up to date. We named Sunyei’s daughter Subiri, which is Swahili for ‘wait’ — chosen because Sunyei seemed to have an especially long pregnancy the third time around.

Five-year-old Wema, Wendi’s middle daughter, has ditched her mother in favour of being Subiri’s nanny. Perhaps she thinks that Sunyei is a better maternal figure to learn from!

We have known Sunyei for more than two decades. She was rescued in 2003, when she was just a week old. Samburu tribesmen found her stuck inside a deep hole in a sand lugga. They extracted her and then brought her to the local police station, where the tiny elephant waited until our Keepers arrived. In honour of her rescue story, we named her Sunyei, which means ‘sand river’ in Samburu.

Sunyei was a great favourite at the Nairobi Nursery. Even as a tiny new rescue, she had the distinction of being the most playful little elephant we had ever met. She played and played and played, all day long, without a care in the world.

Sunyei may not have felt a care in the world, but she certainly gave us a challenge. Neonate orphans are incredibly difficult to raise, being so fragile and sensitive. Keepers supported her day and night, closely measuring every milk feed and monitoring every change in condition. At first, she would only take her bottle against a hung blanket, which mimicked how her mother’s body would have felt. We all breathed a sigh of relief when Sunyei cut her last molar — a sign that the precarious teething process and her most vulnerable stage was nearly behind her.

In 2005, Sunyei graduated to our Ithumba Reintegration Unit alongside her best friend, Galana. The pair remain very close to this day, raising their daughters together in the wilds of Tsavo.

Sunyei first became a mother in October 2017, when she gave birth to a little girl named Siku. Four years later, in November 2021, she brought Saba into the world. And now, baby Subiri makes three. Sunyei never knew her own mother, but she couldn’t be a better parent. She is loving, strong, and decisive — all qualities that were nurtured during the years in our care and beyond.

It is a very special time in Ithumba, to be surrounded by all this new life created by our orphans. Had these elephants not been given a second chance many years ago, their babies wouldn't be here today. This is the beauty of the Orphans’ Project, giving life to generations of elephants.