There is a place, near the Tanzanian border, where the Maasai tribesmen have dug a shallow well to water their herds. It is known as “Narripi” which in the Maa dialect means “Male Guide” In the early morning of 29th August 2005, when a Maasai Warrior who is, indeed, a male guide, happened to be passing, and spotted a tiny elephant calf trapped deep inside the hole. The ground around the hole was well and truly churned up, indicative of the herds’ desperate attempts to haul the baby out, but in the end, fearful of humans, they had to leave, abandoning all hope of being able to save this very precious new member of the family, who was just 3 weeks old. It was evident too that the hyenas had also found the trapped baby, and bit off the end of his trunk, as it waved helplessly in the air searching for help and his mother.
Sure enough, at first light the phone call came telling us that the calf had survived the night, that it had taken water and was a good deal stronger. He asked that it be named “Narripi” so that it would grow up to indeed become, a “Male Guide” amongst its peers.
The rescue plane set off immediately, and by 9.30 a.m. on the 30th August, little “Narripi” arrived at the elephant Nursery, having been fed a bottle of weak milk mixture by our Keepers before leaving Amboseli. Upon arrival, he was given all the homeopathic pillules for his injuries and his trauma, and soon afterwards, the Vet arrived to administer the injectible antibiotic which hopefully will stave off both pneumonia and septicaemia.