The baby was a female of just under two years old, since one could feel tiny tusks just breaking through the lip membrane. She was named Sidai, the Masai word for “beautiful thing”, and beautiful she is, with a lovely face, soft brown eyes shaded by long lashes, and a very gentle and loving temperament, attributes that we would witness in the 48 hours that followed.

All this, however, was not immediately obvious upon arrival in the Nairobi Nursery, where she was given the usual prophylactic antibiotic injection before being unbound in the “Taming Stockade”. Understandably, the newcomer was extremely traumatized and very wild, refusing to take milk or rehydration, and simply bent on trying to “nail” her attendants at every opportunity. Desperately the two Keepers who spent the night with her tried to coax her into accepting milk – the lifesaver she so desperately needed, but by the next morning, even our Veteran Keeper, Mishak, had not been successful. The other orphans were then brought in and this calmed her visibly. Within another 2 hours, she was beginning to take milk from the bottle, but refused the vital electrolytes. Although the milk intake was a hopeful sign, shortly afterwards the dreaded trembling and shaking began, which is always a prelude to collapse and possible death. We despaired, but very fortunately Robert [Carr-Hartley] was able to put intravenous fluids into an ear vein which kept her alive, but only just. Clearly the calf had extremely low blood sugar levels, brought about by milk deprivation and the trauma and stress of capture, and that this had resulted in “muscular dystrophy”, a life threatening condition. Being a muscle, the heart begins to fail, and very soon the patient is gone. On this occasion, however, we were rewarded when with help, the elephant was able to get back onto her legs, and shortly afterwards began to take milk from the bottle, all signs of aggression having vanished. We were euphoric, and really thought that we had won the battle for her life, but another trembling attack seized her the next morning, and yet again Robert most fortunately was at hand to put the intravenous drip back into an ear vein. This time, Sidai remained standing, and as the blood sugar levels were again restored, so the trembling ceased. It was the electrolytes that she needed most at this point in time, and when she began to take them, hope was restored. She was also now calm and loving, pressing her head against the body of the Keepers, and greeting all visitors with touching trust, illustrating yet again, the very forgiving nature of elephants.

By the afternoon of the 5th, she was sufficiently strong to be allowed out with the others, and by the morning of the 6th, she left with them all at dawn. We remained cautiously optimistic that her life had been spared and that this beautiful little elephant would grow up to become a caring Matriarch, and one of what we call our “miracles” to have been snatched from the jaws of death, thanks to Robert. She was an extremely gentle calf and remains so as an adult today. Sidai was translocated to our Ithumba relocation unit in Tsavo and has been very much a part of Yatta's ex orphan herd. Sidai has successfully been reintroduced to the wild and has been a very willing and capable nanny to many of the ex orphans who had babies before her, all perfect training for the day she too knows the joy of her own wild born family.