On a recent trip to Southern Africa, I had the chance to spend an afternoon at Elephant Havens, an elephant orphanage in Botswana. It was an amazing opportunity to get close to these animals and see the work being done to protect them. Since 2007, roughly 30 percent of Africa’s elephants have been lost, leaving thousands of orphaned calves behind. The goal at Elephant Havens is to rescue these orphans and raise them to an age when they are independent enough to be returned to the wild.
Elephant Havens’ Mission: Protecting Botswana’s Elephants
Elephant Havens’ mission is to protect and preserve the African elephant. The foundation works on three fronts: it rescues and hand-rears orphaned and abandoned calves, it works with local communities to reduce conflict between people and elephants, and it protects the wild habitat these animals depend on.
How Elephant Calves Become Orphaned and How Elephant Havens Raises Them
One thing I was eager to understand was how these calves come to be orphaned in the first place. Elephants are deeply social animals, and a calf spends its whole life inside a close family herd. When fire, drought, conflict with people, or natural causes take a mother, that calf loses everything it depends on. It needs far more than milk; it needs a herd to stay healthy and learn how to be an elephant, which is what makes the work at Elephant Havens so important.
The care that goes into raising them is incredible. The youngest calves are bottle-fed a special formula every three hours, around the clock. The handlers rotate on purpose so that no calf grows too attached to one person, since losing a favorite handler could set a young elephant back. Little by little, the calves are introduced to grasses and vegetation, though even at four years old many are still not fully weaned.
Around age five, the calves who are ready move together to a 1,000-acre soft-release area, where they learn to forage and explore as a small herd with hardly any human contact. Years later they are released into the wild for good, and the matriarch wears a tracking collar so the team can follow the herd for another decade. Every elephant is a 20-year commitment, which tells you how much the team at Elephant Havens cares.
Getting Up Close with the Elephant Calves at Elephant Havens
On safari, you get used to seeing elephants from a distance, usually from the vehicle and always giving them their space. This was different! There were about eight people visiting the elephants that afternoon, which allowed for an intimate experience with the calves. They were close enough to touch, and clearly just as curious about us as we were about them. We fed them fruit throughout the visit, and if you let them, they would playfully curl their trunks around you. It was such a sweet, personal way to spend time with them. It is something I will always remember.
One calf, Joy, made the afternoon. She was completely devoted to one of her handlers, following him everywhere and lighting up whenever he was close. Even knowing the team works to keep those bonds balanced, it was so sweet to watch. At the very end of our visit, Joy came barreling happily (and safely) into the human area, thrilled to be on our side of the fence and close to the action. It was the perfect note to end on.
Another calf, Rosie, stood out for a different reason: she is an albino elephant, which was such a special and rare thing to see up close.
We also got to see the kitchen where the bottles and meals are prepared. My favorite part was the feeding schedule written out on a whiteboard, where every calf and every feeding was mapped out by hand. It really brought home how much care and thought go into each elephant every day.
Extending Your Visit: An Add-On Worth Considering
For guests who want to go a step further, there’s an option to extend the visit to see the elephants who are further along in rehabilitation, out in a more natural setting as they work toward release into the wild. It’s a quieter, more hands-off experience, and a lovely way to see the full arc of what Elephant Havens is working toward.
Why I Recommend Elephant Havens for Your Botswana Itinerary
This is a working orphanage doing slow, careful, long-term conservation, and spending an afternoon there gave me a whole new appreciation for every elephant I saw for the rest of my trip. For travelers who care about supporting conservation, it’s one of the most meaningful things you can add to a Botswana itinerary. I would recommend it to anyone!
