Adopt Zawadi

Adopt Zawadi, the baby giraffe orphan, 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 Zawadi – supporting the keepers in caring for her while she’s on her journey back to the wild.

Your monthly donation gets you exclusive access to Zawadi’s private album and stories, frequent photo, video, text, and email updates from her keepers, and will also get you automatic membership to The Herd – our global community of monthly supporters!

Adopting Zawadi 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

  • Zawadi’s release
    and her journey back to the wild in Northern Kenya

Meet Zawadi

ZAWADI IS AN ENDANGERED RETICULATED GIRAFFE
Namunyak Community Conservancy is home to one of Kenya's largest populations of reticulated giraffes.


Gender: Female

Age When Rescued: 5 days old

Rescue Date: September 2024

Rescue Location: Naitemu in the Sereolipi District

Reason Orphaned: Got separated from her mother

Identifying Feature: Shorter tail hair than most giraffes

Zawadi’s Rescue Story

When Samburu women from a nearby village discovered this tiny giraffe all alone in an area near their manyatta (homestead), the brave little girl was only about five days old! It is suspected that her mother left her somewhere safe in the bush before setting off in search of grazing, but that the baby got curious and then started wandering off. 

It's not uncommon for giraffes and gazelles to do this with their young – and they often leave them in small groups while searching for food. Sadly, in times of drought, the wait is sometimes so long that the young ones become impatient and restless, and they may get lost and separated from their mothers.

Thankfully, the women quickly alerted Reteti, and a rescue plan was launched!

Zawadi – which means “gift” in Samburu – was welcomed with open arms and hearts at the sanctuary soon after, and for everyone here, it was love at first sight. Her quiet but strong presence has been a blessing since that very first moment, and not a day goes by that she doesn’t crawl deeper into our hearts.

Zawadi Today

With several orphaned baby giraffes calling Reteti home, Zawadi’s days are filled with a sense of belonging as they embark on the path of rehabilitation and learn the ways of the wild with their peers. And since they’re not all the same age, she is “mentored” by older giraffes too – while enjoying bonds with friends her own age. One of Zawadi’s favourite companions is Lpusi, and you’ll regularly see these two strolling around happily. 

Because animals are often named after the area in which they were rescued, things can get quite confusing around here! We have many long-necked orphans who are named Naitemu (or the female version – Leitemu), and keepers even call out to Zawadi with a loving “Leitemu, Leitemu!” sometimes! Thankfully, there’s no confusion among the orphans – only us humans. These giraffes are so clever and thriving in their own characters – they know exactly who they are. 

Zawadi’s growth since those early days has been simply remarkable and we are so proud of how far she has come.

From being frail and dehydrated, she’s now a healthy, confident and big-hearted personality – truly a gift to anyone lucky enough to cross her path!

In terms of her appetite, we were so happy to see how much she loved her bottle feeds, and while she was still drinking milk, she couldn't get enough of the nutritious goat milk that constituted the first part of her diet and development! It's thrilling to watch her starting to forage eagerly - and we're very keen to see which plants she'll be favouring now that she's on 'solids'.

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 Zawadi

  • Regular email and video updates about your giraffe (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 Zawadi on her journey back to the wild.