Adopt Lomunyak
Adopt Lomunyak for yourself or as a gift for a loved one.
For a monthly donation of $5 or more, you will become a foster parent to Lomunyak – supporting the keepers in caring for him while he’s on his journey back to the wild.
Your monthly donation gets you exclusive access to Lomunyak’s private album and stories, frequent photo, video, text, and email updates from his keepers, and will also get you automatic membership to The Herd – our global community of monthly supporters!
Adopting Lomunyak will contribute to…
-
Feeding Reteti’s orphaned wildlife
with nourishing milk from the Milk to Market Program -
The Keepers
and their 24/7 expert care and endless love for the orphans -
Veterinary care
ensuring the orphans are healthy and strong from rescue to release -
Lomunyak’s release
and his journey back to the wild in Northern Kenya
Meet Lomunyak
Gender: Male
Age When Rescued: 2 Months old
Rescue Date: 26 April 2020
Rescue Location: Samburu National Reserve
Reason Orphaned: Flood
Lomunyak’s Rescue Story
Lomunyak is a Samburu word meaning “lucky ” and boy, are we lucky that he has joined the Reteti herd! Lomunyak is called our lucky boy with good reason. He survived what appeared to be a lion or crocodile attack, and became separated from his mum and nearly drowned in a river in Northern Kenya. He was rescued by security staff from Elephant Bedroom Camp in Samburu National Reserve at 2am on a Sunday morning, late in April 2020. The heroic trio heard the calf crying and jumped into the fast-flowing Ewaso Nyiro River to save his life. Upon arrival at Reteti, he was severely traumatised. Lomunyak also obtained serious head wounds - which we believe were from a lion or crocodile attack. An enormous amount of love and care helped his emotional and physical wounds heal.
Lomunyak Today
One would never really expect that Lomunyak had experienced such trauma when you see him in the Reteti herd. He’s the most playful calf and oh so mischievous! Lomunyak is also a bit of a social butterfly - friends with all the keepers and elephants at Reteti. But, when it comes to meal times, he likes to drink his milk quietly near the weighing scale. He absolutely adores his favourite keeper Naomi, and often spends his spare moments looking for her. Naomi has been with him since the day he arrived at Reteti and the bond between the two is a thing of beauty. There are definitely some signs of past trauma deep within, and we do notice that he frightens easily, sometimes even a little ground squirrel can shock him.
His best friend at the sanctuary is Long’uro. They arrived at Reteti a month apart and are almost the same age. Lomunyak plays the role of ‘big brother’ to Long’uro and has been instrumental in helping Long’uro's development. He stays close to Long’uro and shares his tasty bushes with him, always making sure he gets what he pushes or pulls down. He knows and loves his name and you never have to call him more than once.
He is easy to find in the herd with the round, protruding head scars and his quick response to his name being called.
What is included in your adoption?
A digital, sharable Adoption Certificate - making your foster parent-hood official! (Emailed to you or your gift recipient after the purchase!)
Regularly updated, exclusive online album with photos, behind the scenes stories, and videos of Lomunyak
Regular email and video updates about your elephant (SMS updates too for those of you in the USA!)
Automatic membership to "The Herd" - our monthly donor club that gets you invites to our livestreams, updates from the Reteti team, and more!
PLEASE NOTE
We are a US-based 5013C and therefore your monthly donation is 100% tax deductible for customers in the USA. Additionally, multiple adoptions of individual orphans enable us to cover the costs of caring for all the orphans at Reteti. Your contribution will help us cover the cost of milk, the keepers, veterinary cost and other essentials your your orphan needs.
Your monthly donation will support the rehabilitation and care of Lomunyak on her journey back to the wild.