We love welcoming visitors to the sanctuary – they play such an important role in our community and our ongoing conservation work. All visitors must book beforehand. The entrance fees are 75 USD p/p for international guests and Ksh 1000 for Kenyan residents. Learn more on our Visit Us page.

Kindly book at least 24 hours in advance to ensure availability, as we have limited slots and capacity. Same-day bookings are not possible, and we request that you do not visit the orphanage without a prior reservation.

Please wear dark green if possible, otherwise shades of brown or khaki. 

Our mission is to rescue, rewild and release the orphans, making it vital to limit their direct interaction with humans as they prepare to become free-roaming elephants in the wilderness once more. To minimise their contact with people, we only allow Reteti’s keepers and staff to interact with the elephants.

Reteti is set within Namunyak Community Conservatory in Northern Kenya, at the foot of the Matthews Mountain Range. Directions and the Google Location can be found on our Visit Us page

While we don’t offer guest accommodation at the sanctuary, Sarara has three ecolodges in Namunyak, which are all a short drive away. The closest one, Reteti House, can also be accessed on foot – and is a mere 10-minute walk from Reteti.

Kindly visit our filming application page for more information.

Reteti’s 4 time slots for visitors coincide with the elephants’ feeding times:

Sunrise Feed
Sarara & Reteti House guests only
5.30 am – 7 am (feeding at 6 am)

Morning Feed
Exclusive groups only
8.30 am – 10 am (feeding at 9 am)
Other visitors are welcome when there’s no exclusive group booked.

Midday Feed
Public viewing
11.30 am – 1 pm (feeding at 12 pm)
No more than 3 groups. Max 15-20 people.

Evening Feed
Reserved for private visits
5.30 pm – 7 pm (feeding is at 6 pm)

We ask visitors to make a minimum donation to visit Reteti.

• International visitors: Minimum donation of US$75 per person; US$50 per child under 15.

• Kenyan residents: Minimum donation of Ksh 2,000 per person; Ksh 500 per child under 15.

• Kenyan citizens: Minimum donation of Ksh 1,000 per person; Ksh 500 per child under 15.

We recommend a 4WD (four-wheel drive) vehicle for the best experience, as it will handle the terrain more effectively and ensure a smoother journey to the sanctuary.

Sarara Camp and Sarara Treehouses do not have a minimum stay, Reteti House has a 2-night minimum stay.

Private viewings are available to all visitors who book in advance. International groups of 12 or more are kindly asked to book a private viewing. For more information or to make arrangements, please contact bookings@reteti.org.

It’s an 8-hour drive from Nairobi to Reteti by car. The section of road from Sereolipi to Reteti is dirt and we recommend only 4x4 vehicles with high clearance.

We also have an airstrip close to the sanctuary, for chartered planes from Nairobi, from one of the local airports (Nanyuki, Lewa Downs, or Kalama Samburu), or from the lodge where you may be staying. Planes can be chartered through Air Wilderness, Yellow Wings, Tropic Air Kenya, Boskovic Air Charters and Kenya Choppers. If you are flying yourself, please let us know ahead of time so we can clear the runway (it is a bush strip).

Reteti is a community-owned and -run project, and all positions at the sanctuary are filled by members of the local Samburu community. The orphans are rescued to be rewilded – and their rehabilitation prepares them to become free-roaming elephants in the wilderness once again. Therefore, their direct interaction with humans is limited to keepers and staff.

Reteti was founded in August 2016.

There are currently 33 elephants at Reteti.

We currently have a team of over 100 keepers. Our team of keepers is constantly growing as the need increases with new rescues. Each elephant requires 3 keepers.

Many elephant calves are orphaned in Northern Kenya due to drought, man-made wells, poaching, human-wildlife conflict, when their mothers die of natural causes, or when they get separated from their herds. Most of the babies arriving at Reteti are rescued after they have fallen into wells – and many of these were injured while trying in vain to make their way out. Elephants often pioneer these wells – smelling water flowing beneath the surface of what appears to be rivers of dry sand, and then digging puddles from which they can drink. Guided by the elephants’ scrapings, Samburu families make the wells deeper to provide for their livestock and themselves. At night, when people and their livestock head home, wildlife – including elephants – often visit these wells. Yet during dry seasons, the wells get deeper, and young elephants sometimes lose their footing and fall in. Once stuck, it can be hard for their mothers and other herd members to help them out, and often herds eventually make the heartbreaking decision to move on.

Thanks to the help of Samburu warriors living in Namunyak Conservancy, Reteti is alerted when babies are trapped, and we then pull out all the stops to ensure that the traumatised calves are rescued, brought to safety, and ultimately rehabilitated to be released back into the wild.

When you adopt an elephant, you can select how long you’d like the adoption to be for. If you can’t remember when you joined, you can log into your account on Funraise, our donor platform, or feel free to contact us.

You can adopt a Reteti orphan for $5 or more per month. Please visit our adoptions page here: Meet the Herd.

Your monthly gift directly supports the rehabilitation and eventual release of these wonderful wild animals back into the wild.

You’re welcome to give more than $5 per month if you wish, every dollar makes a meaningful difference.

At this time, adoptions are set up as monthly donations to provide consistent support for our elephants.

If you would prefer to arrange a special yearly gift, please contact us directly at hello@reteti.org and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Yes! Please share as much as you like. Don’t forget to tag us in your posts so we can see.

Yes, you can!

Our elephants in the Reteti Elephant Adoption Program have multiple foster parents. Multiple adoptions of an elephant enable us to cover the costs of caring for all the elephants at Reteti. You will be part of a wonderful foster parent community!

We’re sad to see you leave, and we’re truly grateful for your support of Reteti. You can edit or cancel your monthly adoption at any time by logging into your account here.

Donations are normally non-refundable, but if you’ve made an error with your donation or adoption, or have changed your mind about contributing, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help

We're continuously expanding our adoption program to include more orphans, but while you wait for your favourite to be added, please consider adopting one of the other calves! Every elephant has had a difficult start in life, and you can play a profound role in their journey towards healing and rewilding. 

We will send you a quarterly newsletter with updates, images, videos and news from your beloved adoptee.

While their exact whereabouts will remain private to keep them safe and protected, you will continue to receive regular updates and footage of your orphan in the wild! Thanks to our extensive monitoring program and team – which includes everything from drones to camera traps – you’ll be able to keep track of their progress and be a part of their next chapter in the wild!

Contributions to Reteti’s Elephant Adoptions Program are used to support every aspect of the orphans’ wellbeing and rehabilitation – including procuring the nutritious goat milk they drink three times a day, running and maintaining the sanctuary, and employing keepers and staff. Reteti Elephant Sanctuary is a project of The Sarara Foundation , which supports Namunyak Community Conservancy.

We’re so grateful for your interest and support! Visit our Donate Page to find out more about the variety of ways in which you can support Reteti Elephant Sanctuary.

Yes! When you check out, there will be a space where you can click to ‘Gift this Donation’. Please fill out the name and the email to whom we should send the certificate and updates.

Adoptions can be paid for via Stripe (which allows bank cards) – making this process accessible worldwide!

How wonderful that you’d like to renew your adoption! We will contact you before your adoption is set to expire with a link to renew if you choose to do so.

The elephants receive a milk bottle every three hours, around the clock. In total, each elephant drinks 8 bottles of milk a day. 

The orphans drink a unique milk formula with goat milk as the base, which we purchase from local Samburu women in Namunyak Community Conservancy through The Sarara Foundation’s Milk to Market program. We also add other nutritious ingredients to each milk bottle to ensure that each elephant consumes the right amount of calories for their weight and growth. 

We start to gradually wean them from their milk bottles when they are getting ready to be released. This usually happens when they’re approximately 6 years of age. 

Our aim is for the orphans to spend as much time as possible in their natural habitat while they’re at Reteti. We therefore take them out on bush walks between feeds – to explore the wilderness surrounding the sanctuary, where they learn to browse, navigate the ways of the wild, and become reaccustomed to their natural habitat. They also adore their mud baths – and it’s a highlight for visitors to see them splash around to their hearts’ content!

Yes! Herds travelling past Reteti often smell the babies, and then stop to say ‘hello’! They’d come right up to the fence line to greet them, and it’s always a source of great joy. The orphans also regularly interact with wild elephants at the waterhole during their bush walks. It’s such an important part of calves’ rehabilitation, as increased engagements with wild elephants are pivotal on their journey to ultimately be released.

Our Samburu keepers have a long-standing tradition of singing songs of praise, as well as songs for their livestock, for rain, and for the landscape of their birth. Every keeper sings something unique and special – and visitors are usually deeply touched by these meaningful moments shared between the calves and their caretakers!